“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.
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.
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.
20 mins
Save Recipe
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!
**************************************
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
- 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
Pingback: Pork Piccata
Pingback: Jerk Turkey Burgers With Mango Slaw « ENOFYLZ
Pingback: Cooking with Wine for #SundaySupper #Schlossiwines « Momma's Meals
Pingback: Shrimp Salad With Lemon Tarragon Dressing for #SundaySupper
Oooh Susan, looks so good! Mussels rock! Cindy
Pingback: Red, White and Cordon Bleu #SundaySupper | Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Ha! I love that pug photo-bomb…awesome! That sounds like an amazing trip – Napa is a destination for me. And this dish – my mouth is watering. Mussels are my hubby’s favorite (FAVORITE!), so I’m thinking I should make this dish for him soon. And me, of course 😉
Pingback: Shepherd's Pie with Red Wine Mushroom Gravy | Juanita's Cocina
Oh I love mussels! Nice to see this recipe that is quick and easy. Nothing beats sopping up the broth with bread. Yum!
I like my fruit forward. I don’t know what that means, but I’m going to use it in a sentence sometime over the next week.
Also, mussels are a fav of mine. HUGE craving now. 😉
I love Mussels and can’t wait to try this fabulous recipe!
Such a wonderful trip to Napa! I´ve made moules provencal many times but here we use parsley and garlic and no tomatoes. Wonderful pictures!
Pingback: Small Wallet Big Appetite » Chicken and Mushroom Chicken Piccata #SundaySupper
Pingback: Wine & Dine with Schlossadler International Wine Club and #SundaySupper | Wine Everyday
Susan, this is an amazing post, and your dish looks absolutely delish. I love the quote at the beginning, and your first photo is my absolute favorite. I’d frame it. Happy #SundaySupper!
Pingback: #Sunday Supper: Delicious BBQ Ribs | Pippi's in the Kitchen Again
Pingback: Chicken Involtini With Prosciutto, Provolone and Basil #SundaySupper
Your trip to Napa sounds so wonderful. sigh… I could really use a wine tasting vaca. Mussels and in a wine broth can find a spot in my life anyday!
i love this post so much – this looks like such a delicious dish, and i adore that julia child quote! sounds like a great trip to Napa!
There are only two proper utensils for eating mussels: the shell (to scoop up the juice) and the bread (to soak up the juice). Oh, and a great big napkin, because it does get messy. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Great recipe, thanks. And I’m still watching the Julia re-mix, although I’m down to once or twice a day.
Ooooh Napa looks pretty. All these photos are gorgeouuus. If I liked seafood, I would be unable to resist! 😛
Hahaha I love that first quote almost as much as I love the photo bombing pug. How adorable! On a food-related note, I absolutely adore mussels and could slurp them up all day. Great tip about using the first shell as a tool for scooping up the rest of the meat – I’ve never heard about that before! I’ll have to give this recipe a whirl for sure 😀
Pingback: Chicken Involtini With Prosciutto, Provolone and Basil #SundaySupper : Barefoot Market Test Blog
Pingback: Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends – Pretty in Pink Champagne Macaron #SundaySupper
Pingback: Cooking with Wine for #SundaySupper #Schlossiwines |
Pingback: Elegant Pot Roast with a Glass of Wine #SundaySupper | Daily Dish Recipes