Mussels With Chorizo And Fennel - cooking recipe

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

Preparation

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 saute 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.