Cantabrian mussels with patatas Bravas (fried potatoes)

This is a dish that according to chef Pepe Solla, from Casa Solla, is a fusion of customs from two autonomous communities: Madrid and Galicia. “In the first one, we like canned mussels with potato chips. To give them a Galician touch, we accompany them with cachelos -roasted potatoes- with their skin”.

The dish is served with a brava based on mayonnaise and hot sauce, and finished with arugula sprouts, chopped chives and other aromatic herbs.

Spain has had an important high quality canning industry since the 19th century. and today is one of the main mussel producing countries in the world. In the Galician estuaries the bateas method is used, wooden platforms anchored to the ground by chains where the mollusks breed on ropes.

Although it is originally a recipe with several elaborations, in Conservas Hoya we would like to make a small tribute to this dish and share with you a version that you can make in a simple way for your family:

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Mussels
• Salsa Brava (you can buy it or make it – step 2)
• Arugula
• Chives
• Peregil *Optional
• Cilantro *Optional

This is how we cook it

Prepare the potatoes:

Wash the potatoes well with water and cut them into wedges. Place them in a glass or earthenware baking dish, pour a good splash of olive oil and season to taste (we recommend doing so with a little salt and pepper). Put the tray in the oven, at 180º C, so that they are well done. When they are a little browned you can take them out. Make sure they are well done inside.

2. Prepare the Brava sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 onions
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 500 ml chicken or beef broth
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons homemade tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon hot paprika
• ½ teaspoon cumin *Optional
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

• Cut the onion and peel the garlic. In a casserole put 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and poach the onion and garlic over low heat until the onion is transparent. We don’t want it to brown, we want it to poach.
• When it is well poached, remove it a little from the heat and add the paprika (sweet and spicy). Stir it well so that there are no lumps.
• Add the flour and mix everything well again, now we can put the pan back on the fire, make sure the fire is low, let the flour cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the tomato, black pepper and cumin and when everything is well mixed, add the chicken or beef broth little by little. Let it reduce for about 7 minutes over medium heat.
• Finally, remove from the heat and blend everything well. If the consistency of the sauce is too liquid, you can let it reduce until you get the consistency you like.

3. Prepare the mussels

Drain the mussels you have selected for your recipe, we recommend using giant mussels from the Bay of Biscay, if you do not have them yet, here is our selection:

3. Let’s go with the plating

Once the potatoes are done, the sauce is ready and the mussels are drained, let’s start with the plating, is an important aspect of this recipe, so that the diner will find it pleasing to the eye and easy and pleasant to eat:

2. Place the potatoes in the base of a serving bowl, place the mussels in between and add a little salsa brava on top of the mussels and potatoes.

3. We chop chives and choose some arugula leaves and then place everything on our plate.

We recommend leaving a small container with more sauce so that everyone can add it to taste.