The Spanish mussels are one of the best seafood starters and they are very popular during the months of summer when people go to the beach and eat in Fancy restaurants near the ocean. There are many ways to eat the famous Spanish mejillones, different types of recipes and a great variety of dishes that contain them on their plates. Today we will be talking about the Spanish style mussels recipe and everything you need to know about them:
What are Spanish mussels??
The Spanish mussels (also known as “mejillones” in Spain), are an animal from the mollusk family. You can find them either deep in the ocean or in the surroundings of the coast. The truth is that the mussels are more popular for being a delicious seafood than for being an animal, specially in Spain. The Spanish mussels are cooked in very different ways, we will tell you about them, but you should know that all of them taste delicious!
Different types of Spanish mussels
As we said, every type of Spanish mussel taste amazing, but you will find a huge variety of mussels. Of all the types, in Spain there are two kind of mussels that are very famous:
How to make Spanish steamed mussels?
The Spanish steamed mussels are the most common type of mussels in the country. You can find them literally at almost every restaurant or tapas bar. The recipe for Spanish steamed mussels is one of the easiest in the Spanish cuisine, it will literally take you about 5 to 10 minutes to make them.
Spanish steamed mussels ingredients
- 1 kg of mussels
- 1/2 lemon
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup of water
- Parsley, salt, ground pepper and bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp of olive oil
Spanish Steamed mussels recipe
- Cut in slices half of a lemon and make a cut in the 4 garlic cloves.
- In a big pan, add all the ingredients: the water, oil, lemon, garlic, bay leaves (cut in half), parsley, salt and ground pepper. After that add the mussels.
- Mix all together and cover the pan and turn it into a medium/high heat.
- Keep it for 5/7 minutes and shake it sometime in the middle
- Take them out (if they are too closed, you can through them away) and add parsley on top if them
- Your Spanish steamed mussels recipe is done! Enjoy it!
How to make Spanish mussels in tomato sauce?
Another recipe for Spanish style mussels is with tomato sauce. Although it´s not the most typical recipe to make mussels, you may be able to find it in some restaurants. It takes a li1ttle bit more time than the steamed recipe, but it´s still an easy and quick dish. The key to make this dish is the tomato sauce.
Spanish mussels in tomato sauce ingredients
- 1 kg of mussels
- Half of an onion
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Cayenne
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- Between 1 and 2 cups of tomato puree
- 1/4 cup of white whine
- Sugar, salt, parsley and ground pepper
Spanish mussels in tomato sauce recipe
- Cut in small pieces half of an onion, two garlic cloves and one cayenne.
- Add the olive oil to a pan and one by one cook the rest of the ingredients. First the garlic, then cayenne and onion.
- After 2 or 3 minutes add the tomato and season it with salt and black pepper. Next you can mix it all together. After 5 minutes, add the white whine and turn down the heat a little bit.
- Clean and rinse the mussels. Add them to the pan and cover it. Keep it for 5 minutes.
- Your Spanish mussels in tomato sauce recipe is done and ready to serve. Enjoy it!
How to eat Spanish mussels
The Spanish mussels are normally served as a starter or entree, but many other times are eaten as tapas.
If it´s a small plate and you only eat a few of them, then it would be good for a tapa. In case you decided to eat a bigger dish of mussels it will be more than enough for a first dish. And we believe it´s not enough for a main course, as the mussels are small, but some people say that mussels with a big potato could be used as a main dish.
Mussels are very typical to accompany other dishes; the most typical ones are the paella and the fideua.