Roasted mussels with Piccolo tomatoes and chorizo

When I first read a recipe for roasted mussels, the idea that you could cook them in a way other than steaming both blew my mind and made me wonder why I had not thought about something seemingly so obvious before now. I’ve been trying not to beat myself up too much over not figuring this out by myself, though. When I told my fishmonger what I was planning on doing with the mussels he was wrapping up for me he’d never heard of anyone roasting them either.

When I was thinking about what to roast my mussels with and serve them with, I remembered a slightly Spanish iteration of a Moules à la Provençale (Mussels with tomato, herbs and garlic, cooked as if it were a Moules Marinière) with chorizo I had one Summer a few years ago in Brittany. The chorizo pieces give the dish a slightly rich, if not smoky flavour and go delightfully well with the sweetness of the tiny Piccolo tomatoes. The giant homemade crouton base is perfect for mopping up the clear, chorizo and tomato infused mussel juices and is also a great way to use up old, borderline stale loaves.