Name: Mussels with Chorizo (Mejillones con Chorizo)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6 as a tapa
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: ¼ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish Country bread, for serving; 2 pounds mussels, scrubbed well and debearded right before using; Coarse salt (kosher or sea); 1 medium-size pinch of sugar; 2 cups Shrimp Shell Stock, or 1¼ cups clam juice diluted with ¾ cup water; 1 medium-size pinch of saffron, pulverized in a mortar and steeped in 2 tablespoons very hot water; 1 teaspoon best-quality red wine vinegar; ½ small dried red chile, such as arbol, crumbled; 6 medium-size garlic cloves, sliced; 1½ cups chopped canned tomatoes; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 6 to 7 ounces sweet Spanish-style chorizo sausage, cut in half lengthwise, then into medium-thin slices

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6
as a tapa

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The New Spanish Table

By Anya von Bremzen

Published 2005

About

While in America the pairing of shellfish and sausage represents a vision of Spanish cuisine, the combination is actually more typical of Portuguese cooking. Yet chorizo and mussels make such a delicious and easy crowd-pleasing tapa, I felt it would be a crime to pass it up. Serve the mussels in an earthenware cazuela as a tapa with plenty of bread for mopping up the sauce, or try them over spaghetti (see Variation).