Lost in Translation: Mejillones en Salsa de Pimenton (Mild)

I had no idea I was reading a Spanish website containing the recipe for our European-themed afternoon feast for Ningning's birthday, (thanks to an auto-translation by Goggle Chrome) until I opened it on a mobile device while attempting to copy it on my little black notebook as I rush to Meleguas. Instantly, I had a really strange feeling that somewhere my professor in Spanish 1 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Señor Wystan Dela Peña, is doing his evil laugh and had this charming “You should've listened more” face on. I should have, but Señor, I still figured everything out. (I guess.)

After all, centuries of Spanish colonization are embedded in our veins, six units of language classes still stack-piled somewhere in my brain's recycle bin and guts, which I seem to use more of in the kitchen lately, I was able to make mejillones en salsa de pimento (mild).

How to make it:

Clean the mussels well by scrubbing it. Get the beard off the shell. Wash thoroughly until the water becomes clear.

Boil about one and a half liters of water, add about a spoonful of salt. Put the mussels until it opens. Drain and let it cool until you can touch it. Separate the shell in half, throwing away the empty part. Squeeze with lemon.

Sautee minced garlic and onion in olive oil. Add the white wine. When it simmers, add the flour. Mix well to avoid the flour from forming lumps.

Add preserved red pepper (you can get these at the supermarket) and the green jalapeno. (For extra chili flavor, you can add small red chilis.)

Add paprika, salt and pepper to taste.

Ideally, the salsa should be blended well in a food processor (or in a blender, duh) to create a deep rusty color, but I was considering Neuy, who has very low tolerance for chili, so I used too little paprika making a light yellow salsa and tossed it with the mussels.

Add green jalapenos, cut lengthwise without taking off the core, seeds removed.

Mejillones en Salsa de Pimenton (Mild) can be served as an appetizer, tapas or pub snack (that is pulutan to us) or main dish. Indeed making this one is muy facil!

Personally, I was a little worried that pulling off a Euro-lunch might not be my tummy’s idea of happy ever after, but it went well - even with Ryan’s crazy drink mix (light malt beer + cherry and its red preservative syrup) in between rounds of laglagan game named “The Good Son”; if you watched this movie, you probably have an idea how it's played - not literally though.