Pickled Mussels in escabeche / Mejillones en escabeche

 Mejillones en Escabeche / Pickled Mussels 

If you are looking for a new Spanish tapa and you like mussels, this recipe is a must!

Mussels are very easy to find and a popular ingredient anywhere in Europe. It is also healthy with plenty of iron, iodine and it is low fat. It has an intense sea flavor. This way of cooking mussels is very common in Spain as an 'aperitivo' or tapa with a glass of Vermut or chilled wine. 

In Spain, there are plenty of mussels in escabeche in the canned section of any supermarket and yes we Spaniards love the canned food-tuna, cockles, and mussels especially!! 

Escabeche, which means pickled, it is used to preserve food, meat, or fish, using a marinated mixture of olive oil, vinegar, pimentón, and fresh aromatic herbs.

So here I show you the step-by-step recipe, you will see it is more simple than you may think, trust me!

What do you need?

✅1 medium saucepan

✅1 stockpot

✅1 bowl

✅1 hermetic dish or food container

Ingredients

✔1kg fresh mussels

✔100ml olive oil

✔ wine vinegar

✔ 100ml water from the cooked mussels

✔ 2 garlic wedges

✔ 2-3 bay leaves

✔ 2-3 thyme branches

✔ 1 tbsp black pepper (not grounded)

✔ 3g pimentón or sweet paprika

Method

The first thing you have to do is clean the mussels properly with cold water under the tap. Usually, you could find some debris like seaweed or sand or mud that could be on the shell, use your hands to get rid of any barnacles too. Always discard any open mussels.

Fresh mussels

Cook the mussels in a big stockpot with water. We don't need to add salt as mussels are a naturally salty ingredient already coming from the sea. Once they are open, remove all the mussel meat from the shells and set them aside in a separate bowl with the cooking water (strain the water as we will use later). Discard the shells.

Cooked mussels meat

Now we will prepare the aromatics, garlic, black pepper, bay leaves, and thyme. Finely cut the garlic into thin slices and put all these ingredients in a small plate to set aside.

Aromatics, garlic, black pepper, bay leaves and thyme

In a medium saucepan heat the oil with all the aromatics that you have prepared. Heat the oil at a low temperature during 12-15 minutes as we want to infuse the oil, not fry, to get the intense aroma.

Infusing aromatic with olive oil

At this point introduce the pimentón and quickly stir it all out of the hob so it will not burn. Introduce the vinegar and the cooking water and mix. Heat it just right till it starts to boil, turn off the hob, and set aside.

Pimentón infusing the marinated oil

Add the escabeche with the mussels into a hermetic dish or a food container and leave it at room temperature for a while. When it has cooled you can put it in the fridge. 

It is better to consume the escabeche after 24 hours of cooking. 

It can be stored in food containers either in the fridge or at room temperature for a few days but always with the escabeche liquid covering the ingredients, in this case, the mussels. 

We love them with some crisps and a glass of Vermut or chilled wine!

¡Que aproveche!