The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Summertime Stew
Serve clam, tomato and bacon stew with grilled garlic bread
Cooked hard-shell clams are an unbeatable two-forthe price-of-one delight. You get the clams themselves and the clam liquid they give off as they cook, which creates an instant sauce with astonishing depth of flavor. And it’s simple. You just combine the clams with some liquid (and aromatics, if you want — here I’ve added scallions, garlic and tomatoes), cover them and let them steam until the shells open.
The only tricky part is that all clams don’t cook at the same pace.
The first specimen might open after just 5 minutes while the last one luxuriates for three times as long. If you allow that first clam to hang out until the last clam opens, it’ll end up rubbery. Accordingly, it takes a tough cook to make a tender clam.
Check the steaming clams frequently and pull each one out of the pot the second its shell opens.
This very same recipe also works using a different kind of bivalve mollusk, namely mussels. You’ll need about 4 pounds of these critters. Method-wise, proceed as with the clams, removing each mussel as it opens.
Clam or mussel, this sea creature must be wellcleaned before it’s steamed. Start by filling a large bowl with cold water. Add the mollusks and swirl them around, then lift them out of the bowl.
Dump out the sand on the bottom of the bowl, refill the bowl with clean water and repeat the procedure
until the bathed clams leave no sand.
Canadian bacon adds some meat and smoke to the finished dish. (Also, it’s leaner than traditional bacon.) Of course, the pescatarians among us are welcome to leave out the bacon. Likewise, folks who aren’t into alcohol can substitute
water for the wine. Finally, those who dislike basil can use cilantro instead.
But please don’t skip the garlic bread. It’s easy to make and key to the recipe. And there’s no better way to sop up all that luscious clam broth. Sara Moulton is host of public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.” She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows, including “Cooking Live.” Her latest cookbook is “HomeCooking 101.”