Name: Mejillones a la Marinera
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients: ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 4 lb. mussels, scrubbed and rinsed (see tip); ¼ cup dry white wine; 2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce; 1 bay leaf; Flaky sea salt; Freshly ground black pepper; Pinch of spicy pimentón (optional)

I think mussels are a pure taste of the sea. And nothing is more pure than the juice of the mussels, the broth that comes out of them when you steam them. Promise me, just once, cook your mussels in a superhot pan with a lid, quickly so the mussels open and release their juices, and drink the juices—you will see! In the south we do something a bit more involved, but not much more. We steam the mussels with some salsa de tomate and white wine to release those juices, add a little garlic, a little bay, and that’s about it. If you like it a little spicy, sprinkle some pimentón picante on top. Of course you need to serve it with some good bread on the side, the classic barquito, the little boat that sails alongside every juicy bowl of food. —José Andrés, Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard

Read our Q&A with Andrés, and get his recipe for classic Mediterranean salt-baked fish.

Preparation

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to high, carefully add the mussels and wine, and allow the alcohol to evaporate for about 30 seconds. Shake the pan briskly but be careful as the hot oil may splatter.

Add the tomato sauce, bay leaf, and ¼ cup of water to the pan. Shake the pan a few more times to distribute the sauce and mussels. Cover and steam the mussels for about 7 minutes. Remove the cover and discard any mussels that do not open. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer until the sauce reduces and thickens, about 4 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, sprinkle with pimentón if using, and serve immediately.

Tip: Keep mussels cold in the refrigerator, covered with a wet paper towel, until you’re ready to use them. When ready to cook, scrub them to remove any dirt or debris and “debeard” them by pulling off the thread you may find along the edge of the shell. Hold the mussel tightly in your hand and pull the thread toward the hinge of the shell, or use a knife to scrape it off. Cover the mussels with salted cold water in a large bowl and set them aside for 20 minutes to purge any sand or grit. Then rinse the mussels and throw away any that have cracked shells.

From Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard by José Andrés with Sam Chapple-Sokol. Copyright © 2026 by José Andrés. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Mejillones a la Marinera

Ingredients

Preparation

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