Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Coarse salt

1 lb linguine pasta, spaghetti noodles or spaghetti squash

3 T. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, chopped

2 T. fresh oregano leaves chopped or 2 tsp. dried

1/4 tsp. red-pepper flakes

1 C. white wine (optional) you can use chicken broth

2 lbs. mussels, rinsed and scrubbed

4 T. butter

1/4 C. fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

1 C. parmesan cheese, grated, optional for garnish

What to do:

Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil over medium heat. Drop the linguine into the salted boiling water and cook until the pasta is very “al dente” maybe a minute or so less than the box directs.

While pasta cooks, heat oil over medium in a Dutch oven or 5-quart heavy pot with a lid. Add onion, garlic, oregano and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add wine, and bring to a boil; cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add mussels; cover, and simmer, shaking pot occasionally, until mussels are open wide, 3 to 5 minutes. (Discard any that haven’t opened after 5 minutes.) Add pasta to the mussel mixture in the pot; continue to cook about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and parsley. Add some reserved pasta water to thin sauce if necessary; season with salt. Garnish with the parmesan cheese.

Christina’s Notes:

To make this a lighter dish use spaghetti squash instead of noodles. If you don’t like wine, replacing it with chicken broth will taste great also.