In New England, where I live we tend to hide our clams either under a crispy batter or floating in a creamy chowder.
I don't have anything against either of those dishes, but they can be time consuming and well, just plain messy to prepare at home.
So, I'm going to share with you a way to get a clam dinner to the table in less than half an hour with less stress, and less mess and, as an added benefit, it's also delicious.
For this dish you want to buy 3-4 dozen clams in their shell.
They can be found in most grocery seafood departments these days and are named according to their size.
Either littleneck or cherrystone clams will work in this recipe.
You can keep them in your fridge, but don't try to keep them for more than a day because you want them to be alive when you cook them.
The recipe calls for a white wine for the sauce that the clams will cook in.
You can use any dry or semi-dry white wine that you would normally drink.
And, it can be an inexpensive wine, just don't use a cooking wine because they are loaded with salt and will ruin the recipe.
To make this dish, first you need to clean them.
Just place the clams in a big bowl of water.
Then give them a quick scrub under cool running water with a stiff brush to remove any sand from the shell.
Next place 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan set over medium heat and when melted add the clams and 1 1/2 cups of your white wine.
Cover the pan and let simmer for 5-8 minutes.
Remove the cover after 5 minutes and start taking out the clams when they open and placing them in a large bowl.
Simmer for a total of ten minutes.
Throw away any clams that remain closed up in their shells.
This means that they expired before you cooked them and are not good to eat.
To serve, place the clams in bowls, pouring any liquid from that bowl back into the simmering sauce.
There may be sand in the bottom of this bowl, so be careful to not add that! Taste the wine sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the clams in bowls, pouring the wine sauce over.
A crusty french baguette makes a great accompaniment to soak up the sauce.
Serves 2 as a main course.
I don't have anything against either of those dishes, but they can be time consuming and well, just plain messy to prepare at home.
So, I'm going to share with you a way to get a clam dinner to the table in less than half an hour with less stress, and less mess and, as an added benefit, it's also delicious.
For this dish you want to buy 3-4 dozen clams in their shell.
They can be found in most grocery seafood departments these days and are named according to their size.
Either littleneck or cherrystone clams will work in this recipe.
You can keep them in your fridge, but don't try to keep them for more than a day because you want them to be alive when you cook them.
The recipe calls for a white wine for the sauce that the clams will cook in.
You can use any dry or semi-dry white wine that you would normally drink.
And, it can be an inexpensive wine, just don't use a cooking wine because they are loaded with salt and will ruin the recipe.
To make this dish, first you need to clean them.
Just place the clams in a big bowl of water.
Then give them a quick scrub under cool running water with a stiff brush to remove any sand from the shell.
Next place 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan set over medium heat and when melted add the clams and 1 1/2 cups of your white wine.
Cover the pan and let simmer for 5-8 minutes.
Remove the cover after 5 minutes and start taking out the clams when they open and placing them in a large bowl.
Simmer for a total of ten minutes.
Throw away any clams that remain closed up in their shells.
This means that they expired before you cooked them and are not good to eat.
To serve, place the clams in bowls, pouring any liquid from that bowl back into the simmering sauce.
There may be sand in the bottom of this bowl, so be careful to not add that! Taste the wine sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the clams in bowls, pouring the wine sauce over.
A crusty french baguette makes a great accompaniment to soak up the sauce.
Serves 2 as a main course.
Source...