Mussels With Tomatoes and Fennel

Foodista Cookbook Entry

Category: Main Dishes | Blog URL: http://cookingdownunderblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/mmmm-mussels.html

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.


Photo: Pat Churchill
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Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
1 medium head of fennel
2 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
8 tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 cup white wine
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
handful chopped basil - Greek basil if you have it
1 kg mussels
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley

Preparation

1
Pick over the mussels, removing any beards.
2
Slice the onion. Remove the root end and stalks from the fennel and save any feathery bits for garnish. Thinly slice the bulb.
3
Cut a cross in the bottom of each tomato and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for a minute then slip off the skins and remove the cores.
4
Heat the olive oil and sauté the onion, fennel and garlic over a gentle heat until tender.
5
Turn the heat up to medium and add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Cook for a minute then add the wine and stir for a further minute.
6
Add quartered tomatoes and the sugar, stir then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
7
Check the seasoning and add salt and freshly ground pepper as necessary. Add a handful of chopped basil.
8
Tip in the mussels, cover and steam for five minutes. The mussels are ready when the shells open. Discard any that remain closed.
9
Give the mussels a stir, sprinkle over the parsley (and chopped fennel fronds if using) and serve immediately in deep bowls with crusty bread.
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About

There have been plenty of tomatoes to choose from lately and the flavour has definitely improved from the sad watery winter ones we were buying a few months back.

I like the smaller firm ones from Doncaster and Adelaide, calyxes still attached. They are not all a uniform red but still have patches of green and yellow and continue ripening quite happily in a basket on the bench. They're great in sandwiches or in a salad.

I'm not quite so picky when it comes to tomatoes that are going to be cooked so I was quick to bag myself some ripe but still firm 99 cents a kilo ones at the market on the weekend for a pot of mussels that night.

I've just planted a herb garden in large pot on the balcony and it's good to be able to grab and handful of fresh herbs when I want them. Along with the common basil, I've put in some Greek basil. The leaves are smaller and the flavour more intense and that's what I wanted for this dish.

Yield:

2.0

Added:

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 9:39pm

Creator:

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