Steamed Clams with Garlic, Tomatoes, and Parsley

This recipe comes from the bonappetit magazine. I did this at Laura's house and since forgot where I got the recipe. Now that it's here, I'll know where to go to find it. We usualy buy the clams from Hog Island Oyster Farm in the tiny town of Marshal. If we're not into making the trek to Tomales Bay, we'll run over to the Ferry Building in San Francisco where Hog Island has an oyster bar. We'll grab a bag of clams as well as a couple dozen Oysters for the BBQ.

Ingredients

1 750m-ml bottle dry white wine
2 8oz bottles clam juice
2 large plum tomatoes (about 1/2lb), halved, seeded, diced
9 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2lbs Manila clams, scrubbed.

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled salted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 tbls chopped fresh parsley
1 tbls fresh lemon juice
1 lemon cut into wedges
Crusty bread

Directions

Bring first 6 ingredients to boil in heavy large pot. Boil until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. Add clams, cover and cook until clams open, about 4 minutes (throw away the clams that don't open). Use a slotted spoon, transfer clams to large shallow bowl..

Whisk butter, 1 tbls parsley, lemon juice into broth until butter melts. Pour broth over clams, sprinkle with 1 tbls parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with bread.

Pasta Night

Every once in a while, I get together with my sisters husband, Dale, and we cook everybody pasta. I have done this at home several times before doing this with Dale. I got the idea after going to KC's Golf Club in Redding for Pasta Night....hence the name. Each person's pasta is made just for them, so there are no two bowls of pasta that are a like.

It was a cool idea to cook the pasta for each person right there and it looked simple to do. It takes time getting the ingredients all cut up, but that's part of the fun. Dale and I are on the phone while we go shopping, trying to figure out which grocery store has the clams and mussels in stock and which store has the best pasta sauce to use. Pasta Night turns into quite an event with most of the activity happening before dinner even starts.



The challenge with this dinner is not putting too much in the pot when you're cooking. It adds up quickly and people will be more than stuffed when done.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Whatever you want......really.

This is our typical list:

4 mussels per person, steamed
3 clams per person, steamed
3 uncooked shrimp per person (shelled and deveined)
BBQ'd chicken breasts. Use whatever marinade you like.
Sausages - I like the specialty ones with apple, artichokes, garlic. Whatever sounds good.
Basil - chopped.
10-15 Roma tomatoes - seeded, chopped.
1 Bulb of Garlic - chopped
Tomato Sauce - I like basil and tomato. Use your favorite
Can of chopped or stewed tomatoes with seasonings
Sliced mushrooms
Capers
Zucchini - chopped
Green onions
Red and or White wine for cooking
Parsley
Olive oi
Cooked Pasta - vermicelli, fettucini, whatever you want. We add a little bit of olive oil to the pasta so it won't stick.

grated Paramesean cheese

Cooking

Have whoever you're cooking for say what they want, then cook it. We usually start off heating the olive oil in a small wok style cooking pan. We'll add the shrimp and garlic and cook the shrimp until it's pink. While the shrimp is cooking, toss in the zucchini. When that's close to done, start adding whatever your customer wants. At the end of the cooking, we'll add in the mussels and clams then the pasta. Stir it all together and put into the bowl.