Infused with warm flavours of spicy chorizo, garlic, onion, fennel, and red wine topped with fresh tarragon served with delicious crusty bread. These mussels are easy to make and ready in under 30 minutes. Serve them up as a main course or fun appetizer alternative with plenty of bread on the side for dipping.

LET’S TALK SAUCE..

As the weather starts to cool we thought it would be a fun alternative to do a mussel broth with red wine instead of more traditional white wine sauces. We added some spicy chorizo into the mix as we love the spicy oil sauce that cooks down from the sausages and wanted it infused into our sauce. Heavy tomato sauce, sausage + spicy is also a perfect pairing for red wine so this is a nice bonus. The fresh tomato and tomato paste helps to balance the sauce and gets everything nicely blended together to help thicken the mixture and smooth it out a little bit. You could use canned tomatoes instead. The San Marzano tomatoes are lovely (should be able to find them in the grocery store), break them up with your hands or a spoon in the pot before adding. Stirring in the broth gives the sauce some volume and will help cook down all the ingredients as they simmer together so that the sauce is smoother- Let it simmer longer for smoother sauce. If you don’t want to add red wine no worries! you could def sub this out for some cooking cream. It would leave you with a stronger tomato taste which is totally fine!

PREPARING MUSSELS

Mussels should be kept cold until ready to cook. They are sold live and can spoil quickly once they die and exposed to warmer temperatures. Keep them near the back of the fridge where its the coldest to keep them fresh and from opening. When ready, pull off the fibrous brown string (beard) thats coming out the side if there. Most mussels come cleaned but there may be a few that still have a small beard attached. Scrape the shells to remove dirt or debris, and tap any that are slightly opened. Discard broken mussels and any don’t close.

COOKING

Cook mussels covered for 3 minutes. Pop the lid off and remove any that have opened as they have finished cooking. Stir the mussels and sauce to distribute the ingredients. Continue to cook covered until all have opened. Toss any mussels that do not open when steamed. This means they have most likely gone bad and are not suitable to be eaten. Once the mussels open they are ready to be eaten. Overcooked mussels become tough and are unenjoyable and tend to stick to the insides of the shell. This can happen very quickly during the steaming process so be sure to keep an eye on them and swoop in as soon as they open.

We hope you enjoy this recipe! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it on Instagram! We love to see what you come up with. #thecommunalfeast

Print Recipe

steamed mussels in red wine chorizo broth

Infused with warm flavours of spicy chorizo, garlic, onion, fennel, and red wine topped with fresh tarragon served with delicious crusty bread.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Mains

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 2 pounds mussels scrubbed and debearded
• 1 small yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 roma tomato
• 2-3 chorizo sausages removed from casings
• 1 cup vegetable broth or fish stock
• 1 cup red wine use your favourite
• 1 shallot thinly diced
• 1 TBS tomato paste
• 2 TBS fresh tarragon
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh bread to serve

Instructions

• In a food processor or blended add the onion, garlic, and tomato. Blend until smooth. Add a little water to help smooth the ingredients.
• In a large pot or dutch oven, heat 1 TBS olive oil. Cook chorizo until cooked through. Add the shallots and continue to cook an additional minute. Add the tomato paste cooking until fragrant. Next add the blended mixed vegetables followed by the broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.

Notes

serving portion: 1 pound per person as a main course or 3/4 pound for appetizer.