MUSSELS WITH CHORIZO AND FENNEL

Mussels With Chorizo and Fennel image

I made this up one day when my Dad was coming to visit. He's a big mussels fan and I always make mussels but I always went with this heavier tomato sauce which I was getting tired of. I came up with this sort of mussels soup/stew. Bottom line is it is simple, tasty and looks great. I use the same wine that I serve (wine with soup? Wha?) to cook with and I serve it with some crusty French bread. This is very filling.

Provided by whatscooking

Categories Mussels

Time 55m

Yield 4-6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 7

Ingredients

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

Steps:

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.
In a large sauté pan, brown the sausage over medium high heat with a little olive oil.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 754.1, Fat 46.4, SaturatedFat 16.8, Cholesterol 131.6, Sodium 1768.9, Carbohydrate 18.6, Fiber 2.8, Sugar 0.8, Protein 42.6