This recipe I did during my first week at San Sebastián, to remember old times. In Spain one eats pickled mussels a lot, usually in a bar or at home and as a tapa; we serve the mussel over a potato chip with its juice and that’s it! Delicious!

A technique that I want to tell you about in this occasion is how to treat the mussel. Due to the fact that when we cook the “escabeche” we will be giving heat to the mussel, what we do in the previous step is only blanching the mussel. We open them with the help of a paring knife almost as if they were oysters. This allows us to get very big mussels and very tasty mussels as well.

So, in this recipe we work how to cook in acids, managing seafood and also a delicious recipe to enjoy with friends! Very complete!!

Preparation and handling of the mussels.

• First, filaments need to be removed, this is accomplished by cleaning with a pairing knife under running water. They should not be kept under water because they will open.
• Our aim is just to kill the mussels, not cook them, this is because we will cook them afterwards once we start with the escabeche. In order to this, we place them in boiling salt water (30% salt – their same medium of life, this way they don’t loose any taste) for 6-8 seconds. And then directly to an inverted ice bath (they should not touch the water so we can keep the juice).
• Go through the inside of the shell with a very sharp and thin knife, and cut the muscle once you reach it. You will see the mussel is almost the same size of the shell, much much bigger than when one does steaming preparations.
• Usually when we cook them for longer, the shell opens on its own because the mussel stops contracting.
• KEEP THE WATER –> we use it for the same escabeche or for other creative preparations we can think of. Even a leche de tigre for a cebiche. It is very tasty!!
• If you want to keep them for a day or two, keep them on their same water with some oil on top so they don’t oxidize and always at a very low temperature to keep the cold chain going.

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Early Saturday and direct to the market of Mala in search of the most fresh fish we can find. And we find this delicious corvina!

How did I prepare it? Like my Dad loves it: Chorrillana Style.

Here are some pics of the fish in the Market too

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I’ve had a craving for mashed potatoes, beans and stewed beef for a long while, so this Beef&Ale Pie was perfect!! The stew is prepared with beer and I left it at low-heat for about 3 hours until the meat was reeeally soft. The pastry was also really soft and lovely, and adding to that the company of Cristi, Ton, Esteban and “El Chino”, the evening turned out perfect.

The juice is amazing with the smashed potatoes and it’s really a delicious home dish. We loved it all!! And of course, there was nothing left!!

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So, of course I bought 4 of them and decided to prepare this delicious pâté for the weekend. Friday night with Franzis and Clovis (my roomates) we had 2 with some nice wine and Sunday we had more friends over and we had the rest as an appetizer before the delicious cebiche I prepared, because I had Peruvian lemons with me!! So, getting back to the pâté, gourmet and delicious. You will surprise anyone with it, believe me!!

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They were delicious!! I leave you also the pictures from Clovis’ tortilla and some of the spanish things we had. Soon the delicious tosta!!

Clovis’ delicious tortilla de patatas:

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Anyway… back to the Menu and that special lunch with friends that started with the traditional peruvian Causa Limeña. So, now that I’ve told you how to make home-made ricotta cheese it’s time for a recipe with it right? This is what I prepared: spinach and ricotta ravioli with pine nuts and raisins with a curry-carrot sauce. Absolutely delicious. Let’s get to it, goes dedicated to all the Dad’s today on Father’s Day. Specially to mine, that is the best Dad in the whole world.

This sauce can also be served as a curry carrot soup, the only thing you have to change is to add some cream and maybe more water, some croutons for serving and set. Very light and delicious starter.

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Delicious and exquisit!!!

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Nikkei style tuna tartar.

Breaded shrimp with passion fruit and ‘aji’ sauce.

Smoked salmon with dill mayonnaise.

The recipes:

Nikkei style tuna tartar.

In Perú, Nikkei cuisine is known as the breeding between japanese food and peruvian food. The fusion between ingredients and cooking types.

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Piperade is good as it is, with fried eggs (Pisto con huevo typical spanish), into an omelette, soufflé, with meat, etc.

Bon Apétit!

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