A Shore Dinner

This recipe is adapted from a brilliant idea that we saw on an America's Test Kitchen episode. Prep time is minimal (10 minutes if you are moving slowly). Cook time is short (20-25 minutes) and the results are outstanding. You do need a tall, skinny stock pot, however. It needs to be skinny so the steam can permeate easily all the way through. Ours is an 8qt - sometimes called a pasta pot. Yes there is no liquid added.

Ingredients

1lb Kilebasa sausage - cut into 1/2" thick rounds

2 lbs mussels

3 lbs little-neck clams

2 lbs small red potatoes cut into 1" pieces

6 ears corn, outer leaves trimmed and cut in halves

salt/pepper as needed

Method

Place the kielbasa rounds in a single layer in the bottom of the cold pot. Wrap the mussels and clams in cheesecloth, and tie to make a bag. It makes then easier to remove when all is done. Put the cheesecloth bag on top of the kielbasa. Put the potatoes on top of the bag of mussels/clams. Put the corn halves on next. 

Cover the pot with its own lid. Place the pot on medium heat and cook for about 25 minutes. Check the doneness of the potatoes at about 22 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked the dish is ready. 

To serve, place the corn on a large platter, and then spread the potatoes, shellfish and sausage all around. Strain the liquid to remove any grit and serve separately.

We served it with a Spier Sauvignon Blanc, and home made, crusty bread.

This dish works because the hot air rising from the browning of the sausage hits the shellfish causing them to open slightly and drop their liquid. The liquid turns to steam cooking the potatoes and corn.

Clams are so versatile

Saturday was a chapter of accidents - I missed a hair appointment, so had to go later. That messed up dinner plans. The French beat the English at Rugby, so I have to have a jeering barrage of French co-workers on Monday. So dinner went from being a nice leisurely affair to an, "How can I do something quick and delicious?" - and something warm because of the weather, fish/seafood based because Madame wanted it...
So the old standby of clams came to the rescue. A trip to my fantastic local fish monger (TJ's on Oak Lawn in Dallas), some minor arm twisting from Jon Alexis there (razor clams and littlenecks), some discussion about fennel and I was off to the races. Jon told me that the razor clams cook quicker than the littlenecks, and to put them in a bit after the littlenecks. I figured that 90 seconds would do the trick - and so it did. Fresh pasta (bought,  this time),  green beans, fennel, shallots tomatoes, white wine..... Oh my. And yes it did get the "We can serve this to people" accolade from Madame.

Ingredients - for the clams

1T vegetable oil

2 shallots, minced fine

1 fennel bulb halved and sliced very thinly (mandoline helps here)   

1 - 1 1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a South African Chenin Blanc called Secateur, procured from Veritas)

1 star anise

1/2 dried cayenne pepper, chopped into flakes (more or less to taste)

6 red cherry tomatoes - halved

6 yellow cherry tomatoes - halved

12 littleneck clams

4 razor clams

salt/pepper to taste

Method 

Heat the oil until just shimmering in a large saute pan(choose a pan that has straight sides and a well fitting lid if possible.) Add the shallots and fennel, cook gently until translucent. Add the white wine, dried cayenne, and star anise and simmer uncovered until some of the alcohol has boiled off. There will always be some left. Add the halved tomatoes, cover and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes (until the fennel is tender). Remove the star anise.

Add the littleneck clams and cover. Cook for 90 seconds, then add the razor clams. Cook until all clams are open.

Serve with fresh linguine - cooked al dente, and green beans. Garnish with fennel fronds.

Ingredients - green beans

24 green beans cut into 2" pieces.

1T unsalted butter

1/4 cup water

salt/pepper to taste

Method

Heat the butter over medium heat until it stops foaming. Add the beans, toss to coat. Continue to cook until the butter just starts to turn brown. Stop the butter from burning by adding the water and immediately cover the pot and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Uncover and allow the steam to dissipate. Serve immediately.

Clams with Linguine

We were on vacation in England. Renting an apartment which meant that I didn't have all of my usual cooking toys, the ovens were calibrated in C, the knives were not as sharp as mine... But on a whim we had the landlord to dinner one evening. What to make???
We came up with this wonderful treatment for clams and linguine that was simple to make and very tasty. It even got the "we can serve this to people" accolade from madame.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

24 Small round tomatoes (bigger than cherry tomatoes, but not beefsteak size)
1 Fennel bulb (cut into 1/4" slices and then halved)
4 Small shallots (peeled and halved)
1 garlic clove sliced thinly
3T vegetable oil
3 lbs littleneck clams (purged in cold water for about 30 minutes)
1 bunch parsley chopped fine
A few drops hot sauce
Salt/pepper to taste
3/4 lb Linguine (preferably fresh)
Salt for the linguine cooking water

Method

Preheat oven to 400 with a rack in the center. Toss the tomatoes, fennel, shallot in the oil to coat and place in a sheet pan in the oven. After about 20 minutes, add the oiled garlic to the pan too.
Place a large pot of salted water on to boil ready for the linguine.
You need to time the linguine and clam cooking a bit carefully at this stage. The clams take about 4 minutes to open up, so arrange the timing so that the linguine will be just al dente when the clams are cooked. If fresh pasta is used, put the clams in first. If dried pasta, put the pasta in first and then do the clams with 4 minutes of pasta cooking time to go.
Put the clams into the vegetable pan in the oven, replace the pan and cook for 4 minutes (or so) until all the clams have opened up.
Drain the pasta, Place in a large warmed bowl, pour the clams and vegetables over the top, sprinkle with 2/3rds of the parsley and toss to combine. Check seasonings.  Sprinkle the rest of the parsley on top as a garnish.
Serve with a crisp white whine (Sauvignon Blanc family works well).
 

3 people, 2lbs clams, 1lb linguine

I needed a quick dinner for 3 of us last evening. Quick because I had didn't get out of a meeting until 7:15 and needed to drive home, cook and have dinner on the table by about 8:15. Also it had to be good since Dave Gilbert (an unbelievably creative local chef) was one of the three! The idea then was to create something tasty within the time it took for the longest thing to happen (essentially in less than 30 minutes).
No problem. Linguine alla vongole to the rescue. This is in some ways a perfect timed dish. If you get the amount of water right, you can start the water pot, then do the small amount of prep (chopping parsley, cleaning clams, peeling/slicing garlic, etc.) while the water is coming to the boil. Thne the clams themselves cook in the amount of time it takes to cook the pasta.

Ingredients
2 T olive oil (cooking oil not finishing oil)
4 cloves of garlic - sliced thinly. Not mashed/pureed/pressed
1 dried cayenne pepper (could use flakes) chopped finely. Include the seeds
2 lbs littleneck clams
1/2 cup dry white wine - I used a cheapish Pouilly Fume
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Handful of parsley chopped fine
Salt/pepper to taste

The clams purging themselves of their grit - in a cold water bath

Method

Put a sufficient quantity of water on to boil. I used 2 gallons for the pound of linguine. I could have gotten away with less, but that's the size of my pasta pot. As soon as the water is boiling, place the pasta into the water and set the timer for 9 minutes (or 1 minute less than the directions on the packet call for.

In a large skillet heat the oil to the shimmering stage over medium heat. Add the garlic and hot peppers, turn down the heat to medium low and cook, stirring or shaking often, until the garlic is fragrant. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the clams and shake the pan to coat the clams with the hot garlicky oil.

Add the wine and lemon juice to the pot, and cover immediately.

Cook the clams until they all open (about 6 minutes). After all clams are open, add a little of the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. In the picture below, you can just see some salt crystals falling.

Toss the ingredients together and turn the dish out into a large, warmed bowl. Sprinkle some more of the chopped parsley over the top. I served this "family style" so each guest had the opportunity to help himself.



With this dish I served a bottle of Gravonia which was one of the best wines at the Texas Sommelier convention held at the Four Seasons in the early fall.


After we had pigged out on the clams, I served a cheese course with some cheeses we brought back from Neal's Yard in London. The cheeses are a Coolea - a Gouda like cows milk cheese made in Ireland. Very citrusy, rich, thick, dry. With a nuttiness that is indeed reminiscent of Gouda. Lovely firm, almost crystalline texture. A very well made cheese. The second cheese is a Duckett's Farm caerphilly. It has all the characteristic Caerphilly taste and texture. A good sharp bite, almost honey like sweetness at the finish. It is a pale cream colour in a thick gray dry rind. Finally we had some Harbourne goat blue cheese that is about as subtle as a kick... A very bold, assertive blue. Not much mould for a cheese as potent as this. It felt like a lot of the whey was retained - giving it a strong acid bite.


As a final treat we each allowed ourselves a small glass of the Angostura 1827 rum. This is a rum that has been barrel aged for a considerable amount of time. It has huge vanilla notes and a strong oaky presence. It is a very smooth rum indeed. I am indbted to my friend Thor for introducing me to it.


So, there was the evening a terrific time was had by all. many stories, much concentration and minimal clean up!