Time: 2 ore più riposo
Difficulty: Media

Summer is approaching and you want to have a drink outdoors. I propose a delicious recipe with these fragrant homemade tarallini and mussels au gratin.
Features: The mussel is a bivalve mollusc very common in our seas, consisting of an oval shell, elongated, purple black with brown reflections. Inside the shell is contained the mollusc, whose coat can be cream yellow or orange, depending on the sex. Generally the male is yellow, while the female is orange. Provides a good protein content and a prevalence of polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-3 long chain. Low saturated fat and cholesterol. The caloric intake of a 100 g serving is very low. High intake of minerals, in particular phosphorus, iron, iodine, copper, selenium. Excellent source of vitamin B12, good intake of zinc and biotin.
Ingredients for about 1 kg of taralli
500 g Special bread and pizza Molino dalla Giovanna
1 g baking soda
340 g water
5 g fresh yeast
70 g extra virgin olive oil
10 g salt to taste
2 g lecithin of sunflower
Ingredients for the baked mussels
500 g mussels cleaned half shell
100 g tarallini
1 clove of garlic
the rind of a grated lemon
2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
30 g extra virgin olive oil
a sprig of parsley
salt up
black pepper
Ingredients for the tomato sauce
500 g cherry tomatoes pachino
3 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt Q. B.

Procedure for making the taralli dough:
Put the flour in a bowl with a whisk and mix well, add the baking soda and lecithin and with your hand continue to mix.
Add the water and yeast previously dissolved in it and complete with the extra virgin olive oil and salt.
Begin to knead by squeezing the dough with the palm of your hand, or with the leaf hook in a planetarium, until all the ingredients are well blended.
Place the dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and leave to rest for half an hour in the fridge.
Remove the film from the dough and with the help of a tarot card, detach the strips of dough and form with your hands 5 cm long sticks with a diameter of about 1.5 cm. With each stick, form a circle to match and cross the edges, place in a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Allow to stand for about 30/45 minutes at room temperature.
How to prepare the sauce:
Quickly wash the tomatoes under running water, cut them in half lengthwise and put them on a plate with salt.
Heat a large pan with high edges, pour the extra virgin olive oil and garlic peeled and lightly crushed. Sauté for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes. Remove the garlic and cook the tomatoes for about 10 minutes.
Wash and dry the basil, chop coarsely with a knife and add to the tomatoes.Mix and turn off the heat.
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC and when it is hot bake the tarallini for about 35 minutes. Arrange the mussels cleaned in half shell on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, in a bowl chop the tarallini until they are very small crumbs, add the parmesan cheese, the fresh parsley finely chopped, the grated lemon peel, the chopped garlic clove, pepper and oil.Mix everything well and with a spoon distribute the preparation on all the mussels, then season with a little oil.
After the cooking time of the taralli, remove from the oven and let cool on a raised perforated grid for 4-5 hours so that they dry completely, check that they are dry and crunchy.
Then bake the mussels in a static oven at 200 ºC for 12 minutes on the highest shelf and then another three minutes at maximum power in grill mode.
When cooked, remove from the oven and serve with a bowl of cherry tomatoes and 5/6 tarallini.