Starter Spanish
Mussels in escabeche with potato crisps
Meat & fish
Editorially prepared
Mussels marinated for 24 hours in olive oil, sherry vinegar, garlic and spices. Serve on four tasting spoons with crunchy potato crisps on the side.
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Ingredients
4 servings · metric units
Allow one tasting spoon with 2–3 mussels per person. When increasing the quantity, keep two parts olive oil to one part vinegar and choose a container in which the marinade covers the mussels. Cook larger quantities in batches rather than packing the saucepan tightly.
Substitutions
Substitute amounts are adjusted to your selected servings.
- Instead of sherry vinegarwhite wine vinegar
Choose a vinegar with a similar acidity to sherry vinegar. It has a less complex, more directly acidic flavour; add it gradually and taste the marinade before pouring it over the mussels.
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Optional ingredients and substitutions
You’ll need
heavy-based saucepan with a lid · small saucepan · knife, chopping board and peeler for the lemon · measuring jug and measuring spoons · small glass container with a lid · larger bowl for a cold-water bath · four tasting spoons · serving platter and separate small bowl for the crisps
Method
0/9 stepsClean the mussels and prepare the flavourings
Scrub the mussels under cold running water and remove the beards. Discard any with cracked shells and any open mussels that do not close when tapped. Wash your hands and utensils. Wash the lemon, peel off the thin yellow zest without the white pith and squeeze out the juice; reserve the peel. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and rinse the thyme. Measure the marinade ingredients. Allow about 15 minutes for preparation.
Clean the mussels and prepare the flavourings Steam the mussels
Put the mussels in the saucepan, add the lemon juice and cover. Heat over a medium-high heat until visibly steaming, about 3 minutes. From that point, cook covered for about 5–7 minutes, shaking the pan once. Check that the shells have opened and the flesh is opaque and firm. If the flesh still looks undercooked, cook a little longer and check again. Discard any mussels that remain closed.
07:00Steam the mussels Cool briefly
Take the saucepan off the heat and uncover it. Leave the mussels for about 5 minutes from this point, just until the shells are cool enough to handle safely. Do not wait for them to become completely cold.
05:00Cool briefly Shell the mussels
Remove the meat from the shells and pull away any remaining beard fibres. Arrange the mussels in a small glass container, preferably in one compact layer. Do not add the cooking liquid to the marinade.
Shell the mussels Warm the spiced oil
Pour the olive oil into the small saucepan and add the garlic, thyme and reserved lemon peel. Heat gently for about 5 minutes from switching on the hob, until the garlic sizzles softly and softens without browning. If it starts browning sooner, remove the pan from the heat immediately. Take off the heat and add the paprika, cumin, coriander and fennel. Stir for about 30 seconds, until the oil turns orange and smells fragrant.
05:00Warm the spiced oil Combine the mussels and marinade
Once the sizzling subsides, carefully stir in the sherry vinegar. Remove the lemon peel and thyme stalk. Pour the marinade and garlic over the cooked mussels, mix gently and taste a little marinade; only now add salt if needed. The mussels should be covered by the liquid — if they are not, transfer them to a smaller container. Set the container in a larger bowl of cold water, keeping the water out of the marinade.
Combine the mussels and marinade Cool the marinade promptly
Cool in the cold-water bath for about 15 minutes from placing the container in it, until the marinade is no longer warm. If it is still warm, replace the water with fresh cold water and continue cooling. Dry the outside of the container, cover and refrigerate immediately at 0–4°C. Do not leave the cooked mussels out of the fridge for more than 2 hours in total.
15:00Cool the marinade promptly Marinate for 24 hours
Marinate covered in the fridge for 24 hours from refrigerating the container. The mussels and marinade must be thoroughly chilled before serving; stir gently to redistribute the oil, vinegar and spices.
Marinate for 24 hours Serve on tasting spoons
Arrange four tasting spoons on a platter. Put 2–3 mussels on each and add a little marinade with thin garlic slices, without overfilling the spoons. Put the crisps in a separate small bowl alongside. Serve immediately, chilled. Keep any remaining mussels in their marinade in the fridge.
Serve on tasting spoons
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Tips
- Use a small glass container so the mussels sit in one compact layer and are covered by the marinade.
- If the olive oil thickens in the fridge, gently move the container and stir the marinade before serving. There is no need to warm the mussels.
- Tinned alternative: choose ready-made mussels in escabeche. Omit the fresh mussels and all the homemade marinade ingredients; place 2–3 mussels with a little of their marinade on each spoon and serve the crisps separately. Allow about 5 minutes.
- Do not dress the crisps with marinade before serving or they will lose their crunch.
Storage
Keep the mussels in their marinade in a covered container in the fridge at 0–4°C. Eat within 48 hours of cooking, including the 24-hour marinating time. This is a refrigerated marinade, not a shelf-stable preserve. Keep the crisps separate, dry and tightly sealed. Store opened tinned mussels according to the instructions on the packaging.
Timing
Hands-on: 40 min · Cooking: 16 min · Resting: 24 hr 20 min
The total allows for tasks done in parallel. The individual times can overlap.
