In early October, JT and a friend went to Buffalo to see a hockey game (hockey is absurdly expensive in Toronto and it was a nice male bonding trip). I had a friend over for dinner and I served mussels. I had about 12 left over and thought I’d like to try this Spanish recipe to preserve mussels. They turned out quite delicious so next time I’m at the Fish Monger, I will get a bag to make a batch of these tasty treats.
While the cooked mussels have a soft and spongy texture, the preserved mussels are much meatier to the bite, which makes them a bit more filling and not unpleasant at all.
Interestingly enough, I did not see these on any menu while we were in Spain, or maybe I didn’t notice them. When we are in Spain again, I will definitely search them out because they are tasty.
Mussels Escabeche
For the original recipe, please click here.
Ingredients:
- 50 g mussels, cooked (shells reserved)
- 30 mL high-quality extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 g roasted garlic puree
- pinch of rosemary
- pinch of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cinnamon stick
- 2 or 3 whole black peppercorns
- Peeled zest of 1/4 a lemon, cut into thin strips
- 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 30 mL white wine vinegar
- pinch of salt
Directions:
- Clean and dry the shells and set them aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, cinnamon, black pepper, and lemon peel and heat gently to a very low boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the paprika, vinegar, and salt and stir well.
- Put the mussels into a clean glass jar and top with the warm liquid with all of the spices. Stir well. Put a lid on the jar and set it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
- To serve, remove the mussels from the marinade making sure there are no little bits sticking to them.
- Strain the marinade. Add one mussel to a half shell and drizzle with a little of the oil mixture. Serve cool.
Notes:
- My summer herb garden finally gave into winter so I’m using dried herbs for this recipe. The slow cooking will bring their flavour out into the marinade but fresh is preferred.
- I reduced this recipe to cover the few leftover mussels I had.
- I garnished my mussels with sliced scallions and diced pickled hot peppers.
This is a great idea for leftover mussels. In Spain at bars they usually have stuffed mussels, completely different but really good. They are called tigres (recipe on my blog). Have you tried them?
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I love mussels any way you want to prepare them. These sound particularly nice.
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Sounds delicious! I thought I might have made this recipe when we were cooking our way through a Dorie Greenspan cookbook, but I guess not. This would be the perfect recipe to make when Bill is out of town 🙂
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I love mussels, but I’ve never had (nor heard of the method) them this way. How interesting and unique and certainly delicious, too!
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These look so good. And such a unique recipe!
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That is really interesting. I love mussels, but I’ve never heard of preserving them in this way. I can’t wait to try it!
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Very fresh and flavourful, even with dried herbs.
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
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