Aperitivo time in Costa Brava with Steamed Mussels, Fried Prawns, Sardines and Cod with Romesco Sauce

I treasure so many good memories from my Mediterranean summer times. I was lucky when I was a little girl, my family had a summer house at L'Escala, in Costa Brava, Spain; a Northeast coastal region of Catalunya with beautiful beaches and small fishing villages.

L'Escala beach, at Costa Brava, Catalunya-Spain.

My dad used to go fishing and come back to the house with a huge amount of mussels, and clams, and sometimes with an octopus attached to his arm and still alive. Then my mum had to clean, cook and prepare these beautiful sea creatures for the Aperitivo time, and funnily I didn't like it at that time.

Can you believe it, fresh as it comes from the sea!! 🤦‍♀️ Perhaps my palate wasn't ready for it yet. Now I love them, cooked in different ways.

Another amazing dish was 'Calçots with Romesco', which is very typical in Catalunya. Is a seasonal long onion, cooked in the flames of the BBQ and accompanied by romesco sauce. Once cooked is wrapped in diary paper for a while, and then is served to the table with romesco.

Calçots are ready to be flamed and roasted at the barbeque and ingredients to make romesco sauce.

The way to eat it is quite messy and fun, by dipping the whole calçot into the sauce and straight into your mouth. Here in London, I struggle to find Calcot's although I can make romesco and use it in different recipes. Is a great sauce with intense nutty and smoky flavours.👌

Here I share with you a couple of recipes perfect for an 'Aperitivo Time' wherever you are, making you travel directly to the Mediterranean Seacoast.

Steamed Mussels

I simply cleaned the fresh mussels under the water tap and I removed the filaments. Then I steamed them with a bit of water and I covered them with a lid, in a big stock pot with some bay leaves, a slice of lemon, and salt.

Cleaned mussels ready to be cooked.

Cooking mussels with some water, salt and a bay leave.

Strain and serve with some slices of lemon on a nice serving plate.

Mussels served with come lemon.

A curiosity about the mussels: You probably know that mussels are grown in big quantities near the coastal side with rocks, where they develop their filaments to get attached to the rocks and eat. Those filaments are part of their body and in Spain are known as 'bisos'.

Nowadays it's not appreciated, but in the ancient era, it was a highly valued and precious product. With them they created fabrics and it was known as 'Silk from the Sea'. Turns out it was very light and warm. See this picture from some gloves made with it.

Antique glove sewed with 'silk from the sea' filaments, probably from 19th century.

Fried Prawns, Sardines, and Cod

Dipping Butter

I simply made a dipping batter with flour, cold water, or/and beer (to your taste), and a tsp of salt. Quantities can vary, I normally do it on the go, adjusting water or flour for its thickness.

Using cold water and cold beer in equal quantities will help to get a nice crispy finish.

Batter the pieces of fish and prawn into this mixture and fry in a deep saucepan or casserole with enough hot oil until they are golden and crispy.

Use a small number of pieces each time to fry in a deep pan with hot oil at 180ºC. I recommend using Olive Pomace Oil for deep frying because is very stable and is the one that best withstands successive frying. Other oils you can use are vegetable oil, peanut oil, or canola oil.

Romesco Sauce

A smoky, garlicky, and thick sauce made with roasted tomatoes, nuts, and ñora (a small dried red pepper) Initially fishermen invented it to eat with fish made with a mixture of hazelnuts and almonds, tomatoes and garlic made with a pestle and mortar.

I am so glad that some of my colleagues from The Brigade (our Private Community of foodies, where you are more than welcome to join) know already about this sauce, which has multiple recipes and can be used with basically a good variety of ingredients, grilled or fried meats, vegetables, and fish, as a basic sauce with a green Catalan salad called  'Xatò', or just using your imagination you'll find it perfect for pasta or even with pizza. 😉

Here is my Romesco recipe:

Ingredients:

✔️4 ripe tomatoes

✔️2 heads of garlic

✔️4 ñoras (dried red round peppers or small chilli dried and very mild and intense) We only use the meat of it.

✔️40g roasted almonds

✔️40g roasted hazelnuts

✔️200ml AOVE (Virgin Olive Oil)

✔️10ml Jerez Vinegar

✔️Salt and black pepper

Method:

Roast the tomatoes and garlic with a good splash of AOVE in an oven tray at 180ºC for 20 minutes.

In the meantime soak the ñoras with water at least for 30 minutes, to hydrate them. Then use a paring knife to separate the meat from the ñora skin, this is going to give a special and intense flavour to the sauce.

Toast the nuts in a small pan.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend well until you have a shiny and thick sauce. Rectify salt at the end if necessary.

Fresh salad with small radishes

Here is a fresh and simple salad idea to accompany the Mussels, using mixed salad leaves and mini radishes with a vinaigrette, mixing olive oil, Jerez vinegar, salt, and pepper.

I love sharing with you these dishes that really come from beautiful memories,

Esther xx