Tiella cozze e riso – rice and mussel bake

It is already November, in full spring in Australia. I am dreaming - and eating - asparagus, the last of the artichokes and the first of the stone fruit (hooray). My weekly dinner at home planning looks something like this: home made pasta 4 times a week (usually egg free); one night of seafood, one night a fortnight of meat (usually beef and sometimes pork or lamb from  local butcher Matt), one night of eggs and one night vegan; vegetarian for the rest. We have never eaten much meat and that is the one that often gets dropped back to once every three/four weeks. The seafood component is often tinned sardines but sometimes it is fresh sardines, mussels, flathead or clams.

I recently finished reading “On eating meat - the truth about its production and the ethics of it” by Matthew Evans. I enjoyed it hugely. I have loved seeing Matthew move to Tasmania and establish Fat Pig Farm (via the TV series Gourmet Farmer, which I have watched religiously). The book does not try to turn everyone to a vegan or even vegetarian diet, but it does give compelling facts about why you should consider where your food comes from, and make fully informed choices. It is well researched, unemotional and ponders the difficult questions about farming practices and cheap meat. I am certainly better informed about the Australian context of meat production. If you have been thinking about reading it, please do; I found it immersive and difficult to put down.

So thinking about our food, and eating sustainably, the dish I wanted to share with you in this post is a Pugliese classic: tiella cozze e riso. Mussels are nearly always farmed but are very sustainable; I buy the ones that are farmed in Mount Martha, less than an hours drive from my home (so there are not many food miles either). The word “tiella” comes from the earthenware dish in which you cook this one-pot layered meal of potatoes, tomatoes, rice, mussels and pecorino cheese (yes cheese and shellfish work surprisingly well together). Water and stock (from steaming open the mussels) are added to the pot, which is then placed in the oven to steam until it is perfectly cooked.

This is a recipe from Adriatico, and one that I have eaten often on my travels through Puglia; it is hearty and delicious especially if you are a shellfish lover.

tiella cozze e riso - rice and mussel bake

300g short-grain rice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 small white or brown onion, thinly sliced
600g potatoes, peeled and sliced (3-4 mm thick)
500g ripe cherry tomatoes (or other small tomato), quartered,
50g grated pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons parsley leaves
700g mussels (about 300g mussel meat)
freshly ground pepper
extra virgin olive oil

De-beard and scrub the shells of the mussels clean . Place the cleaned mussels in a large lidded frypan with a quarter cup of wine and the garlic. Cover, turn up the heat and shake the pan occasionally. After a minute, check for open mussel shells and remove them one at a time with tongs. Cover and cook for another minute and check for more open shells. Repeat for up to 5 minutes. Discard any unopened shells. Strain the liquid that is leftover in the pan and reserve. Separate the mussel meat from the shells of those that have opened at the base of the stalk using a small sharp knife. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil on the base of a round baking dish (ideally terracotta, mine was 24cm in diameter), and place a layer of potatoes. Next place a layer of onions, then a layer of tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper, some rice, then half the mussels, making sure the opening of the mussel flesh is facing up. Then add another layer of potatoes and repeat the layers described above. Finish the tiella with a layer of potatoes on top.

Fill the container with the strained cooking liquid of the mussels plus enough hot water so that it is just below that top layer of potatoes. Scatter on the cheese and bake covered (with a purpose made lid or foil) for 45 minutes. Test the potatoes with a skewer to see if they are cooked through. If they are still firm, bake for another 10 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for a further ten minutes so the top of the tiella can brown.

Rest at least half an hour before serving.