Food on Fridays: New Year’s bubbly on any budget

Whether you are spending a low-key night at home with the spouse and kids or partying with friends until dawn, chances are that tonight you will be imbibing from a bottle of bubbly. But what to buy? Our friends at Rimann Liquors were kind enough to offer their top picks in a variety of price ranges:

Champagne:
Domaine Ste Michelle, $12.99
Gloria Ferrer, $19.99
Chandon, $21.99
J Sparkling, $26.99
Veuve Clicquot, $159.99 (on a side note, I was highly impressed to find that this is their most popular champagne. What a classy bunch we PVers are!)

Prosecco:
Maschio, $13.99
Adami, $15.99

And in case you have any leftover champagne, have no fear – you can bring it to our house! Or else, here is a recipe from Bon Apetit that looks pretty yummy. (See it after the jump).

Leftover champagne mussels

Ingredients
1 kilo mussels
Leftover champagne (or white wine)
2 carrots
1 onion
2 celery stalks
4 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste
parsely

Preparation

Rinse and pull the beards off of the mussels. Throw away any that are open. Cut up all vegetables as tiny as your hangover allows. (Note that vegetables larger than the mussels will not be cooked through when the mussels are done.) Put the vegetables and salt & pepper in a large pot with the wine. Bring to a simmer. Add mussels and cover, stirring a couple of times while simmering. When the mussels are open, serve them with plenty of the liquid in large bowls over pasta or with large chunks of crusty artisan bread and butter on the side. (Don’t eat the ones that don’t open.) And make sure to have some more wine on hand, just in case.

See the whole recipe here.