Secrets of the Best Chefs

crusty bread and salad—they never quite fill you up the way you

want them to. Enter this pasta. Here, cooked mussels are worked

into a pasta sauce made with garlic, red pepper flakes, cannellini

beans, and fresh tomatoes. And though White serves this with

creste de gallo, a coxcomb-shaped pasta that he achieves with a

pasta extruder, this also works quite well with a box of dried

cavatappi (a coil-shaped pasta).

FOR THE MUSSELS

Extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

½ bottle of dry white wine

Kosher salt

1 pound mussels, cleaned and debearded

FOR THE PASTA

1 pound dried cavatappi

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

2 large red tomatoes, diced

¼ cup chopped parsley

Best-quality olive oil, for drizzling