Mejillones a la Marinera

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide lidded sauté pan or pot, at least 6 litres
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Large heatproof bowl
• •Tongs or slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the mussels

   Rinse the mussels under cold running water, scrub away any grit, and pull off the beards. Do not soak them in fresh water. Discard cracked shells and any open mussel that does not close within a minute after a firm tap.

   Clean the mussels just before cooking. Keep them cold in an open bowl or colander under a damp cloth while you prepare the sauce.
2. 2

   Cook the sofrito

   Warm the olive oil in a wide lidded pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until deep gold, soft and nearly jammy. This is the sofrito, the slow onion base, and its sweetness gives the sauce its depth. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute without letting it brown.

3. 3

   Build the sauce

   Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute so it loses its raw taste. Take the pan off the heat, add the pimentón, and stir for 10 seconds. Pour in the wine at once so the paprika cannot scorch. Add the bay leaves, return the pan to medium heat, and simmer for 2 minutes, scraping the base smooth.

4. 4

   Open the mussels

   Raise the heat to high, add the mussels, and cover tightly. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes, shaking the pan twice. Check after 3 minutes and transfer each mussel to a large bowl as soon as its shell opens. Do not leave the early ones in while the last ones catch up, or tender mussels become rubbery. Discard any that remain closed after cooking.

5. 5

   Strain the liquor

   Let the liquid in the pan settle for 1 minute. Pour it through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing the softened onion and garlic through with the back of a spoon, but leave the final 15ml of gritty sediment behind. Rinse the pan if any sand remains, then return the strained sauce to it.

6. 6

   Reduce the sauce

   Boil the strained sauce over medium-high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon while still running freely. Taste before adding salt because mussel liquor can provide all it needs. Add no more than the measured 1g if the sauce tastes flat.

7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Return the mussels and any liquid collected in their bowl to the pan. Add most of the parsley and turn everything through the sauce for 30 seconds, just long enough to coat and warm the shells. Spoon into a wide cazuela, scatter over the remaining parsley, and serve immediately with bread for the sauce.

Chef Tips

• •Buy live mussels that feel heavy, smell cleanly of the sea and have damp, unbroken shells. Galician mussels are unusually large, but smaller cultivated blue mussels cook properly here; begin checking them a minute earlier.
• •Use sweet pimentón, not chilli powder. If yours is strongly smoked, reduce it to 3g so it doesn't cover the clean taste of the mussels.
• •Choose a dry, unoaked white wine. Albariño is the natural Galician bottle for the pan and the table, but any fresh dry white without sweetness or heavy oak will do.
• •The strained liquor is the seasoning and the heart of the sauce. Let it settle, leave the final gritty spoonful behind, and add salt only after reduction.
• •Serve the dish at once with coarse country bread. Leftovers may be removed from their shells, chilled within 2 hours, and kept covered for 1 day; reheat them gently once, without boiling.

Advance Preparation

• •The onion and garlic sofrito can be cooked up to 24 hours ahead and refrigerated covered. Reheat it gently before adding the flour, pimentón and wine.
• •Mussels may be scrubbed and debearded up to 2 hours before cooking. Refrigerate them in a colander set over a bowl under a damp cloth, never submerged in water or sealed airtight.
• •Once the mussels enter the pan, finish and serve the dish without delay. The sauce can wait for the shellfish; cooked shellfish should not wait for the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)