Ingredients:

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
1         Tablespoon    olive oil 
1         cup           chopped fennel bulb 
2         cup           julienne onions 
3         Tablespoons   minced shallots 
2         Tablespoons   minced garlic 
1/2       cup           Pernod® 
1/2       cup           peeled and chopped Italian plum tomatoes 
2         cups          white wine 
40                      mussels, cleaned and debearded 
1/2       cup           finely chopped parsley 
                        loaf crusty French bread

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. When the oil is hot, sauté the fennel, onions and shallots for 2 minutes. Add the garlic. Remove the sauté pan from the heat and add the Pernod®. Place the sauté pan back on the heat and flame the vegetables for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes and wine and bring the liquid to a simmer. Add the mussels and parsley, cover and steam the mussels until all of the shells have opened, about 4 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open their shell. Remove the mussels and let the broth cook for 2 minutes. Season the broth with salt and pepper, if needed. Remove the broth from the heat. Divide the mussels between two large shallow bowls. Spoon the broth over the mussels. Serve the mussels with the crusty bread.