Don’s clam fiesta

We had a hankering for clams today, so Don worked up this off-the-cuff recipe and it was a feast! Some of the ingredients were just things we had around and could be dropped out if needed. Less than half an hour from start to finish. You can prep stuff while the first items go into the skillet and then keep it moving.

This will work with little necks, top necks and mussels as well. We just like middle necks for cooking.

While it was a fantastic dish, Don’s only thought was that he wished he had some red bell pepper in here, some nice long slices for flavor, color and contrast. They would have gone in with the sausage.

Key thing to make this work is remember, it’s all about the clams. Once they go in… you have 7 minutes and all your pasta and sauces have to be ready to plate. Do not overcook the clams. And do not serve any clam that did not open.

Ingredients:

1 TB Minced Garlic

1 bunch of green onions, shallots would be OK, sliced thin

1 TB Olive Oil

1 TB margerine

2 or 3 TB chopped up sundried tomatoes

Fresh ground peppercorn, we like the peppercorn medly grinders.

1 package of Shitake mushrooms (portabello or oyster would be fine)

2 cups of white wine…nothing too sweet. The dryer the better. But use a good wine, nothing cheap.

1 link of cooked andouille sausage (we like cajun style). Sliced thin and chopped up.

2 dozen middle neck clams (or use little neck, top neck or mussels). Put them into a bowl of water (filtered if possible) and let them ‘breath’ for 10 to 20 minutes.

Handful of cilantro

1 package of rice sticks. Linquine or angel hair pasta would be fine too.

Directions

Heat olive oil and melt margarine in a large skillet. Put in garlic and onions and cook for a minute or two over medium heat. Add diced sun dried tomatoes and cook for another minute. Put in mushrooms, sliced to desired size or left whole, cook for another minute or two. Toss in the sausage. We slice it real thin so it’s almost more of a seasoning than something to sink your teeth into. Grind in some fresh peppercorn. Cook for another minute. Pour in the white wine and bring to a boil. Put in the clams. Toss in cilantro.

The clams will take about 7 minutes. You want to pull the skillet off the heat and be ready to serve after they’ve opened up. Scoop up and stir every couple minutes to make sure the clams are heated equally.  Some won’t open, expect waste, so 8 or so may not open out of a couple dozen. Do not serve these. Noodles take about 7 minutes, so have them timed to be ready when the clams are done…over cooked clams, even by a minute, begin to get rubbery.

Put out a bed of rice noodles/pasta and scoop up the mix from the skillet and place on top.

THREE VARIATIONS

Clear.

Just use the above recipe. If all your ingredients had time to meld before putting in the clams, you should have a great base. You can always serve the white sauce on the side if you like.

Red Sauce

If you like a red sauce, before putting in the clams, pour in a can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and cook for a minute.

White Sauce

This is our favorite. Not the healthiest option, but darned good. Heat up a pint of cream, but save a small amount, melt a couple tablespoons of margarine. As it heats, mix a little of the reserved, cool cream with about a teaspoon of corn starch. Take the heated cream off the burner and stir in the corn starch until smooth. Add about 1/4 cup of fresh grated parm cheese (never the dried stuff!!!!). Pour on top of the plated clams. Wow.