Baked Mussels

How to prepare some mussels in the oven.  Here is a recipe for seafood with mussels that you can prepare any day of the year, mussels au gratin baked in the oven.

One of those recipes that I have seen at home since I was little, easy to prepare and a very affordable dish. When we talk about Galician mussels, only one word comes to mind, flavor.

I love steamed mussels, like this, simple, just like that with all the flavor of a good product. In this dish, the mussel is accompanied by a lot of ingredients that can mask the taste of the mussel. But this is not the case, it accompanies and improves it.

The recipe that I propose can be a fantastic starter or as part of the menu for a special occasion. Even for the price, it’s perfect to take to work in your lunch box and be the envy of your colleagues.

I have used fresh mussels, but it could also be done with previously cooked and frozen mussels. It would not be the same, but you have to be practical in the kitchen. So you can also do them at any time, perfect if an unexpected guest or commitment arrives.

On the blog you will find a lot of options with this mollusk, a cheap seafood and full of possibilities. They can be prepared in many ways: Mussels in rabid sauce ,  tigers or mussels croquettes , mussels in vinaigrette ,  mussel pie , mussels à panadeira … and many more options that I will publish on the blog.

I leave you with this recipe that we eat a lot at home on Sundays, even at Christmas . After this, you will surely dare to cook them at home. You are going to love them! 

Cooking the mussels

1. We select the mussels, eliminating those that come broken or damaged. We wash them thoroughly under the tap water, removing the chins, algae remains and any dirt they bring.
2. In a large saucepan, pour a finger of water that covers the saucepan. Add the mussels and put on high heat for 4 minutes. At this time they will have been fully opened and ready.
3. We remove them from the fire and reserve to cool and we can handle them.
4. After a few minutes we are removing them from the casserole and placing them in a source without the upper shell. We strain the broth resulting from the cooking, it must be clean and we reserve to then prepare the filling of the mussels.

Preparation of the baked mussels

1. Cut the onion, peppers and garlic cloves into very small cubes. We poach it in a frying pan with a generous stream of extra virgin olive oil.
2. We also add the bay leaf to cook with the vegetables. Grate the tomatoes and reserve.
3. When the ingredients are poached, add the ham in very small cubes. We fry everything for 1 minute until all the ingredients come together. The ham will give it that touch that I love in the scallops au gratin . It will make the filling tastier.
4. Add the sweet paprika and the saffron threads, stir.
5. We will pour the white wine. We put the fire on top and reduce the liquid, so the alcohol evaporates. We stir well during the process so that they integrate well with the rest of the ingredients.
6. Add the grated tomato and sauté well. Then we add, little by little and on demand of the sofrito, tablespoons of the broth of the mussels that we had reserved from the cooking of the mussels.
7. Do not move the liquid much to prevent the soil released by the mussels from rising to the surface again and mixing with our sofrito.
8. Let it cook over medium heat until the liquid is consumed, because this sauce should be rather dry.
9. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
10. When it is ready, we add a tablespoon of sofrito on the mussels that we have prepared. We completely cover the mussel, thus protecting it from the heat of the oven and it will be juicier.
11. We preheat the oven to 180º C in gratin mode.
12. Add a pinch of dried oregano to the already stuffed mussels. Finally we sprinkle some breadcrumbs for the gratin.
13. Gratin the mussels at 190 ° C in the upper part of the oven for 5 minutes. We take out when we see that they are golden and the breadcrumbs are toasted. We serve very hot.

You can see in this step by step how to prepare these mussels au gratin for Panadeira. Follow the photos and they will be perfect the first time.