Moules a la Provencale #SundaySupper

“I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I’m cooking.” – Julia Child

While my Julia Child “official” celebration ended on Wednesday, this quote from her perfectly sums up the theme for #SundaySupper today.

Cooking with wine.

And I don’t just mean, cooking while drinking wine. Granted there is nothing wrong with that!

#SundaySupper teamed up with Schlossadler International Wines, and 9 bloggers were lucky enough to receive 3 bottles of wine from their wine club to cook, drink and pair meals with this week.

For the rest of us, we are also cooking with and pairing wines with meals, but from wineries of our choosing.

Having just returned from an amazing trip from Napa a few weeks ago, I’m now chock full of wine knowledge. We only had two and a half days to spend out there, and hubs and I made the most of it. I believe I lost track of how many wines we tasted, but they were all fantastic.

Day one was tasting rooms in downtown Napa, and day two was a tour of Napa, visiting four small producing vineyards.

I learned how to properly taste wine: swirl, sniff (stick your nose in that glass), slurp, swish, and finally swallow. It was an amazing experience, and I’ll never taste wine the same way again.

I’ll also never look at Chardonnay the same way either. For most of us, we know it as a buttery, oaky wine. Every single chardonnay I tried in Napa, was dry, crisp, and fruit forward.

Fruit forward, perhaps my new favorite wine term.

Here we are enjoying wines at Goosecross Winery in Napa.

For my meal, I went with a favorite, Moules a la Provencale. I realize the mariniere is the more well know preparation for mussels and wine, but provencale also calls for wine and I honestly prefer it over the two. Plus tomatoes are in season, this dish is just begging to be made.

Before cooking your mussels, be sure to soak them in cold water to remove any grit and scrub and remove any beards, as seen above.

Moules a la Provencale #SundaySupper

5.0 from 3 reviews

Recipe type: Entree, Main Dish, Seafood

Author: Susan Palmer

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

Mussels are a wonderful dish for a group, they are relatively inexpensive and cook up very quickly. I recommend purchasing one pound of mussels per person (for an idea on price, at my farmer’s market, two pounds cost $4). An important note to remember, mussels are alive, and should be kept cold or on ice if transporting. After cooking, if any shells don’t open, discard because they had already perished and are bad.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 large plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1 cup dry white wine

Instructions

In a stock pot over medium heat, saute your onions with 2 teaspoons of olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add your garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, until tender and the juices begin to release.
Add the mussels, white wine and cover, shaking the stock pot occasionally to move the mussels around. The mussels will take anywhere from 6-10 minutes to open. Check frequently, and as soon as they do remove from heat.
Discard any unopened shells, and serve the mussels and broth in a bowl with a loaf of crusty bread and frites.

Notes

During my first trip to Belgium in 2008, I learned the proper way to eat mussels. Turns out they are a utensil in and of themselves. After you remove the meat from your first shell, use it to pick the meat from remaining shells. You will find it works better than a fork!
Traditionally mussels are served with a big bowl of frites and a side of mayo for dipping.

So the perils of taking pictures on your coffee table (best lighting the apartment) means you might get photo bombed by the pug.

Before you go don’t forget to check out what the rest of the #SundaySupper crew is cooking up today!

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The talented group of Sunday Supper Bloggers have developed fabulous recipes and can’t wait to share these wines with you:

2006 H.O. Becker, Kerner Auslese, Rheinhessen
2010 Ernst Holler, Blaufrankisch, Burgenland
2010 Kotuku Winery, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

We welcome you to grab a glass of wine and join us for this week’s special Sunday Supper Wine Event. We will be sharing these fabulous recipes along with the perfect wine pairing at 7:00 pm ET. We will be sharing these amazing recipes with you all day!

A Midsummer’s Picnic w/ Wine by GirliChef
Shrimp Scampi with Homemade Garlic Toast by Big Bears Wife
Jerk Turkey Burgers with Mango Slaw by ENOFYLZ
Wine & Dine with Schlossadler International Wine Club by Wine Everyday
Elegant Pot Roast by Daily Dish Recipes
Chicken with Feta and Sundried Tomatoes + Apple Crisp by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Shepherd’s Pie with Red Wine Mushroom Gravy by Juanita’s Cocina
Pork Piccatta by Family Foodie
Shrimp Skagen Salad in Avocado Halves by Tora’s Real Food

But the fabulous recipes don’t stop there, there are more amazing recipes to pair with this fabulous wine:

Shrimp Salad With Lemon Tarragon Dressing by Magnolia Days
Red, White and Cordon Bleu by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Peppercorn Steak by Doggie At The Dinner Table
Chicken Florentine by There and Back
Penne Rigate with a White Ragu Sauce by Momma’s Meals
Moules a la Provencale by The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
Delicious BBQ Ribs by Pippi’s in the Kitchen Again
Chicken and Mushroom Chicken Piccata by Small Wallet Big Appetite
Ginger Roast Chicken with Red Wine Plum Sauce by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
Beef Stroganoff by From Fast Food to Fresh Food
Strawberry-Pink Champagne Sorbet by The Messy Baker Blog
Italian Style Baby Back Ribs by Cooking Underwriter
Muscat and Raspberry Cake by Happy Baking Days
Pretty in Pink Champagne Macarons by Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends

Wine Pairings by ENOFYLZ

Join us at 7pm ET for our #SundaySupper Chat with @schlossiwines. Follow along on twitter by using hashtag #Sundaysupper or using Tweetchat. We love to feature your recipes on our #sundaysupper pinterest board and share them with all our followers.

We have a special discount for all participants: Free Shipping when you join The Wine Club by Schlossadler Wines use code FFSS1.

Next Shipment is October 2012 ~ Halloween Day Ghostly Whites, Haunted Red for all friendly spirits everywhere.

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Website: www.schlossadler.com