Plain, Simple Clams

Local clams from the shrimp guy at the All-Local Farmers Market again. This time I sauteed some garlic and a dried Thai chile, then added vermouth and water, turned the heat up to high, added the clams, covered the skillet, and pushed down tight for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan every 30 seconds or so.

On the side we had orzo with parsley and butter, plus some garden tomatoes and eggplant.

On Clams

Clams are so fun to cook with. This wasn't the most successful dish I've ever invented, but I love the magic of clams: you add to your sauce a bunch of rocklike chunks sealed up tight and cold, turn the heat up, cover the pan and hold down the lid, and a few minutes later you open it to find gaping, iridescent shells full of moist clam meat completely filling the pan. It has all the drama of a souffle.

I thought this would be like a Portuguese version of linguini with clam sauce. And it might have worked had the chard been milder, but it was really strong locally grown chard. The bacon was local, too -- from Caw Caw Creek, wonderfully brick red when cooked even though it looked fatty when raw. The clams were delicious, nothing at all like the chewy bits in a can of clams, but were somewhat overpowered by the chard. I used garlic, too, and dried red chile and salt and black pepper and vermouth, and it was completely edible but not amazing.

Next time I find fresh clams I will try a more classic recipe.

On a related note, it will be interesting to see how cooking and eating change now that I'll be working from home more of the time. On the one hand, I won't be compelled to eat just because it's lunchtime, and I won't be eating sandwichy things from delis. And we don't really buy prepared food for home; except for cheese and fruit, just about everything here requires some cooking or preparation.

On the other hand, when I was writing about bacon just a moment ago, I realized that I definitely wanted bacon for breakfast/lunch (usually one and the same for me), and here I am at home with a stove and a fridge full of bacon, and so very soon I will be sitting down to a lunch of bacon, toast, and yogurt with strawberries.

Easy Pasta with Canned Clams, Tomatoes, and Caramelized Peppers

Just yesterday we found fresh clams from the South Carolina coast; the guy who sells local shrimp at the all-local farmers’ market had brought up clams and softshell crabs, but he was out of the crabs by the time we got to him. The clams were lovely -– I made a pasta sauce of local chard, bacon, and clams that was okay-tasting but so, so beautiful to look at.

Anywhere, here’s what you do when you don’t have fresh local clams. I made this up recently and will make it again.

Cook slowly in 1 T olive oil over medium-low heat:
- 1 or 2 yellow, orange, or red peppers, sliced
- Several cloves garlic, sliced

When sweet and browned, add:
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, some halved, or other tomatoes
- 5 saffron threads
- 1 bay leaf

Cook down slightly. Add and simmer, tasting for proper salting:
- ½ cup dry white wine
- Juice from two cans of clams (tuna can-sized)
- Red pepper flakes
- Pepper and salt to taste

Stir in clams from the cans at the end. Add parsley if you have it. Serve over pasta.

We also had artichokes. In the past I’ve served them the way you did when I was a kid, stem down. But the ones I bought had several inches of beautiful stem, and I read that in Europe they’re sometimes served the other way, stem up. So I did that. They were tasty.