Tostada de mejillones (mussel tostada)

Tam West

We couldn’t resist the Tostada de mejillones (mussel tostada) which we modified to suit local ingredients. We used agria potatoes instead of idaho, and a smoky chilli powder in place of chile pasilla powder (Mexican Specialities in Ellerslie sells these chillies dried). We used local fresh chillies and La Morena Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce and we fried our own soft corn tortillas to make flat crispy tostadas. You could even use large corn chips if you want snack-sized portions. And the molcajete? It’s a mortar and pestle to you and me.

This recipe has been adapted from Mexico from the Inside Out, by Enrique Olvera (Phaidon).

Vegetables and chipotle mayonnasie

1 tsp	Salt
2	Carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2 cm cubes
2	Potatoes, Idaho, peeled and diced, cut into 1/2cm cubes
2 cloves	Garlic
½ cup	Olive oil
1 large	Egg yolk
2	Limes, juiced
¼ cup	Extra virgin olive oil
2	Chillies, chipotle in abdobo, ground in a molcajete
1 tsp	Salt

Mussels and escabeche

1 kg	Mussels, scrubbed (Main)
1 ½ cups	White vinegar
½ cup	Rice vinegar
3	Allspice berries
1 tsp	Smoked paprika
1 clove	Garlic, thinly sliced
½	Onions, white, julienned
1	Chilli, serrano, sliced
1 cup	Grapeseed oil
1 cup	Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp	Ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp	Salt

Plating

4	Tostada shells, fried (Main)
4 small	Coriander sprigs
1 tsp	Chilli powder, pasilla

Directions

1. Vegetables:Bring 4 cups (about 1 litre) water to a boil in a pot and add the salt. Add the vegetables and cook over medium heat until tender. Drain and cool in an ice bath.
2. Chipotle mayonnaise:In a small pan, cook the garlic in the olive oil over very low heat until lightly browned. Let cool, then remove from the oil and crush. Put the yolk in a bowl and whisk in the lime juice and crushed garlic. Add the extra virgin olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly until emulsified. Stir in the ground chipotles and adjust the salt.
3. Mussels:Heat oven to 215C. Create steam by adding 1 cup (240 ml) water to a bowl with the mussels. Cook the mussels for 3 minutes, or until they open. Cool and remove them from their shells.
4. Escabeche:Place the vinegars, spices, garlic, onion, and chilli in a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the pot from the heat and add the oils. Add the ginger and salt and let cool. Once the escabeche is completely cool, add the mussels and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. (The mussels in escabeche will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator, since the vinegar preserves them.)
5. Plating:Mix the vegetables with just enough of the mayonnaise to bind. Place 1 tablespoon of the salad on each tostada and top with 2 tablespoons drained mussels. Finish with the sprigs of cilantro and chile powder.