Taieddha is a traditional dish from southern Italy. This recipe, from An Appetite for Puglia, uses mussels and Pecorino cheese.

Taieddha is a classic Italian recipe from Puglia. The name refers to the dish in which it is baked. There are several different spellings, and a variety of ingredients can be used to form the layers. This version of taieddha is taken, with permission, from An Appetite for Puglia by Christine Smallwood (pub. BDP, £19.99) – a lovely and informative book on the cuisine of this little known region of southern Italy.

The recipe is one of Anna Carmela Perrone’s: she’s the owner of Trattoria Cucina Casereccia ‘Le Zie’, a restaurant in the baroque Pugliese town of Lecce. It’s a restaurant that serves the type of dishes you might eat in someone’s home in Puglia. And it’s always busy with local people. Anna’s favourite version of taieddha is made with mussels. In the book it suggests that while Anna removes the half shell from them still raw, it’s both easier and safer for you to heat them through first.

Recipe for Taieddha

Ingredients - Serves 6

• 2kg mussels, cleaned
• 1.5kg potatoes, peeled and cut into medium slices
• 500g courgettes, (zucchini) cut into medium slices
• 5-6 medium red tomatoes, cut into small pieces
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Bunch parsley, finely chopped
• 3 onions
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 50g Pecorino, grated
• 150cl extra virgin olive oil
• 110g breadcrumbs

Method

1. Put the mussels with a small amount of water on the heat so that they cook enough to open. Keep the cooking liquid to one side. Discard any mussels that remain closed. Remove the top shell so that all the mussels are left in the half shell and put to one side.
2. In a large bowl mix the potatoes, courgettes, tomatoes, garlic and parsley together by hand. Coarsely grate one onion into the mixture. Season. Add the cooking liquid from the mussels.
3. Take a large greased baking dish and roughly slice the remaining, peeled onions into it. Put half the mixed vegetables on top. Take the mussels in the half shell and arrange on top of the vegetables, shell facing downwards. Sprinkle half the cheese over the top and cover with the remaining vegetables. Add a couple of glasses of water (the potatoes need this to cook).
4. Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese. Drizzle over the olive oil, then cover with the breadcrumbs. Put in a pre-heated 200C oven for 50-55 minutes. Check from time to time and cover with foil if necessary. Test that the potatoes are cooked. Serve hot from the oven.

In the book it's suggested that you drink rose wine with your taieddha.

Read a review of An Appetite for Puglia, and try some more recipes from the book:

Homemade Mushroom Ravioli in Walnut Sauce

and

Pasta-filled Aubergines (Eggplant)

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