Clams with Sausage & Tomatoes

This simple recipe is made with clams and sausages in a tasty tomato sauce. The recipe suggests using linguica or chourico sausages, however, I have used Italian sausages, and other types of sausages with equal success, but the flavor of the sausage does have a marked effect on the final flavor of the dish.

Serve the clams in shallow bowls, either spooned over wedges of boiled potatoes or accompanied by lots of coarse country bread.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes or 2 fresh chiles, finely minced
• 1 bay leaf, torn into pieces
• 1/4 lb presunto or prosciutto, diced
• 1/4 lb linguica, or chourico, casings removed and crumbled
  
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2-3 cups diced, canned tomatoes with juices
• 3 lb small clams, such as Manila, well scrubbed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• lemon wedges (optional)

Method

1. In a large saute pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil.
   
2. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes, if using, and saute until softened, about 3 minutes more.
3. Add the bay leaf, ham, sausage, wine, tomato, and the fresh chiles, if using.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the clams, hinge side down, discarding any that are open or broken.
   
6. Cover and cook until the clams open, 3-5 minutes.
7. Spoon the clams and juices into warmed bowls, discarding any clams that failed to open.
   
8. Sprinkle with parsley and a liberal grinding of black pepper.
9. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

The recipe originates from the Algarve region of Portugal and can be found, along with many other mouth-watering recipes in the Williams Sonoma book, savoring Spain and Portugal.

Clam Chowder

Go into any seafood restaurant or any steak house, and you are sure to see clam chowder offered on the menu. Clam chowder is typical of most regional specialties in that there is no one recipe - instead there are many varieties all containing the same base ingredients. The basic ingredients of a clam chowder are clams, onions and potatoes, and bacon or ham, giving the soup its distinctive smoky flavor. For a rich New England clam chowder, milk is often replaced with cream. In Manhattan clam chowder, however, there is neither milk nor cream, but plenty of fresh vegetables.

My favorite restaurant for clam chowder is San Francisco's Hog Island Oyster Company, which serves a whole array of oysters prepared in various ways, and clams either steamed or in a chowder, and the freshest salads you could ever taste. All of the vegetables are grown locally, and the menu changes according to whatever is in season.

Their clam chowder is different to many in that they leave the clams in the shells and serve them in a creamy broth, rather than chopping the clams and cooking them in a thick sauce. If you want to make chowder yourself, here is my version of this style of clam chowder.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 6 lb manila clams, soaked and scrubbed clean
• 6 rashers bacon
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
  
• 1 small onion, diced
  
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 medium celery stalks, diced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 cups clam broth
• 4 cups cream or half and half
• 1 cup dry white wine
  
• 4 sprigs of thyme
  
• salt
  
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Scrub the clams thoroughly under running water, and leave to soak for several hours to remove any sand.
2. Heat a 6-quart pot over a medium heat. Fry the bacon for about 5 minutes and then add the garlic and diced vegetables to the pan. Stir gently for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the clams and the thyme to the vegetable mixture, then add 3 cups of the clam broth and 1 cup of wine, season with salt and pepper.
   
4. Cook gently until the clams open, discarding any that do not.
5. Add the cream to the mixture and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring frequently.
6. All the ingredients should be cooked through, but the potatoes should be in tact and the chowder should be neither too runny nor too dry.

Serve with a crispy sourdough roll, a fresh salad, and a glass of white wine or a chilled wheat beer, and it's truly heaven!

Emeril-Inspired Clams with Flavored Butter

This is a recipe for clams cooked on the grill with flavored butter. I was watching Emeril on the Food Network last week and he made oysters in a similar way. Not being especially fond of oysters, I decided the concept would work equally as well with clams, and it did.

This is a really simple way to cook clams and makes a great appetizer while the rest of your meal is on the grill.

To make the butter

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• handful chopped English parsley
• handful chopped chives
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place ingredients in a food processor or blender; pulse until well blended.
   
2. Wrap in foil in the shape of a long roll. Place in the refrigerator until hard (about 45 minutes).
   
3. To serve, roll back the foil and cut into slices about 1/2-inch thick. After slicing tightly re-wrap the unused flavored butter roll in the foil before returning to the refrigerator.

To make the clams with flavored butter

• 4 lbs clams
• 1/2 cup parsley and chive flavored butter (recipe above)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• freshly ground pepper
  

1. Scrub the clams and leave to soak to remove all the sand, and rinse before use. Discard any that are broken or not tightly closed.
   
2. Fold 1 yard of foil in half for double thickness.
3. Spread clams over middle of foil and fold in the edges to make a parcel.
4. Grill over medium-low coals until shells are open and the clams turn opaque, 8-10 minutes. Open the foil out but leave the edges raised so that no juices escape.
5. Break open the shell and discard the empty half.
   
6. Place a teaspoon of the flavored butter on each clam half, and leave on the warm grill for a further minute.
7. Arrange on a serving plate and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, black pepper and sprigs of parsley.