Mussels With Chorizo And Fennel

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 lb mussels, cleaned, sorted and debearded (like a bag of mussels)
• 1 head fennel
• 1 lb chorizo sausage, removed from the casing (italian works too but i like the heat of chorizo)
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 (340 g) package grape tomatoes (or cherry, or strawberry, etc...)
• 4 -5 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 remove the tops and stem bottom of the fennel, reserving the green 'hairs', and slice vertically into thin slices. finely chop those hairs as well.
• 2 in a large sauté pan, brown the sausage over medium high heat with a little olive oil.
• 3 once the sausage is browned, add the fennel and 1 cup of wine. braise for about 10 minutes until fennel is flexible but still crunchy and the wine has reduced by half.
• 4 add the tomatoes and garlic to the sausage/fennel mixture. crush about half the tomatoes with the back of a spoon to release some of their juices. cook for about another 5-10 minutes.
• 5 meanwhile add the other cup of wine and mussels to a stockpot, cover and cook on medium heat until mussels are cooked, about 4-5 minutes.
• 6 once the mussels are cooked (discard any unopened mussels), combine the mussels (and liquid) with the sausage mixture and mix well. cook for about another 5 minutes to meld the flavours. season to taste.
• 7 serve in large soup bowls, spooning a little of the broth in each bowl and topping the fennel, chorizo and mussels mixture with some of the reserved fennel tops.