Chickpeas with spinach and mussels

The combination of shellfish and pulses is not unusual in Italian cooking, and it is delicious. This dish actually combines 2 recipes. One is composed by Ceci and spinach and the other is simply “ceci con le cozze”. As recycling has a paramount importance in my kitchen, I transformed the “Ceci con gli spinaci” from the day before.

Classical treatment of the mussels. Garlic, chilly pepper, Olive Oil and some date tomatoes in the pot. Add the mussles, heat up, then a generous amount of white wine. Cooking until the mussels are all open.

For this dish I left only 20% on the shells and took away the shells from most of the mussels. The Ceci (chickpeas) were already done. So I simply put them into the mussels, stirred, heated again and ready.

Important to keep your fingers away from any salt. The mussels com from the Ocean.

This dish requires a white wine. Better if it is of high acidity. I tested an Orvieto classico superiore from Salviano and a Trebbiano Spoletino from Le Cimate. The high acidity of the Trebbiano Spoletino was wonderful with the strong mussel flavors, though some of the wines more delicate flavors were covered by the food.

Originally published at https://winesong.biz.