We first saw the Moules Fromage Bleu dish made by Chef Teddy Folkman on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Bacon, blue cheese, white wine and mussels- what's not to like? Of course, Chef Folkman beat Iron Chef Bobby Flay, but more importantly, he tempted our palates! And what other occasion could would be more perfect than a Valentine's Day dinner at home? Click here for the recipe and to see a video of Chef Folkman preparing them himself.
These mussels looked beautiful as Justin kept them chilled in ice water while preparing the mise en place ( the preparation of all of the ingredients). The recipe is quite simple and very delicious.
We began by cooking the bacon- we used Niman Ranch uncured, Applewood smoked bacon. If I could attach an aroma to this post, I would attach this beautifully fragrant aroma of smoky goodness that filled our kitchen. I believe the quality of the bacon and blue cheese is critical to this simple recipe.
The shallots and mussels were tossed along with some sauvignon blanc and lemon juice.
You can see the mussels began to open becoming perfect pockets for the bacon and shallots.
Finally, half of the blue cheese was melted in the broth. We used Maytag blue cheese. Once the mussels were opened, we added spinach from Full Belly Farms.
We plated the mussels, added the rest of the blue cheese and salt and pepper and proceeded to enjoy this simple yet decadent dish with crusty bread. It was phenomenal. 
This dish is wonderful with pommes frites (thin french fries) which Justin has prepared in the past. But we were trying not to overindulge, so we had a fresh salad instead with lettuce from our Full Belly Farms farmshare.It was splendid and we recommend that you try this simple, yet flavorful dish.
