Seafood Marinera Pasta al Cava is a delicious way to welcome summer with mussels cooked in a splash of sparkling white wine, garlic, tomato, thyme and parsley.
Marinera Mussels (Mejillones Marinera) is a popular dish in Spain combined with Pasta which equals Seafood Marinera Pasta al Cava! Not to mistake with the Italian Marinara sauce, a tomato sauce. This dish is the Spanish cousin of Spaghetti allo Scoglio from Italy. However, the main difference is the Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine and paprika. This touch makes the dish even more dreamy and festive! The natural sea broth from the mussels flowing down the cava-tomato sauce is disturbingly addictive.
Marinera with or without Paprika?
In Spain, there is a fight about: “Should Marinera sauce contains tomato or not?” Half does it with paprika and wine, the other half with tomato and wine. Both ways are acceptable, and I personally don’t want to interfere, so I took all three ingredients. As for the paprika, you can use a sweet type or spicy, depending on your preference; both would suit the recipe!
Cleaning Mussels
Mussels are great; they are filled with flavour; in particular, that spectacular sea broth they bring to a dish is so tasty. Although careful not to bring the sand, they might hide in their shells in the sauce. So the first step should be cleaning your freshly bought mussels after arriving home under cold water to eliminate the impurities. You can keep them in the fridge; mussels live a full day in the fridge, in a bowl with a wet cloth on top. The best place for them in the fridge is in the back, with less temperature change. This way, they will be happy as a clam… well.. mussel. When you are ready to cook them, clean the “beard” off, scrub them, and rinse them under cold water once more.
Other Seafood Pasta Dishes
Let’s get those mussels cleaned up!
Seafood Marinera Pasta al Cava
Ingredients
- 500 g pasta
- 30 mussels
- 200 ml cava (sparkling wine)
- 400 g tomato purée
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp parsley
- 1 tsp paprika (sweet or spicy)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Debeard and wash (cold water) the mussels.
- Add the oil, thyme, garlic, paprika and black pepper, then, the wine and tomato paste to a big skillet and reduce at medium-high heat for about 10 minutes.
- During that time cook the pasta.
- Add the mussels to the sauce, cover it up, and cook for about 4 minutes until it opens up.
- Serve the sauce and mussels on the pasta with an extra sprinkle of parsley, salt and pepper.
