Clamming Up

Happy Earth Day from clatter! Earth Day may not exactly be a holiday known for celebration in the form of food, but with any luck, clatter hopes to change that . . .

On the eve of a certain defining moment of my young legal career and suffering from a rather endless week at work, I have been in desperate need of some quality kitchen time to distract me from my troubled mind. Brainstorming ideas this afternoon (between writing briefs, of course), I decided that clatter’s Earth Day tribute should celebrate how the best ingredients come straight from the earth. Well duh, of course they do - this might possibly be the easiest clatter assignment yet, because the possibilities are endless! That being said, I figured I had to make it a little more interesting than that, so I posed the following challenge to myself: make a dinner with dual components – one from in the earth and the other in the ocean.

If there’s ever a place for an obsessed cook to find some inspiration, it’s a large, beautiful, open market where you can easily spend 20 minutes studying the hundreds of cheeses you’ve never heard of (and would taste-test every last one if only given the chance). So tonight after work, I took a trip to the Whole Foods on NE Sandy Blvd. Opinions of Whole Foods run the gamut, but nevertheless always seem to be charged with emotion – sometimes of utter disgust for the “outrageous” prices or of absolute admiration for the freshest, organic, and sometimes toughest-to-find items. You can find me somewhere in the middle - I love to peruse the aisles, examine the fresh meats, study the imported wines, and gape at those cheeses, but it is certainly not my store for everyday groceries. Here’s my unsolicited advice for a successful trip to Whole Foods: GET OUT before your eyes become bigger than your wallet. I’ve been known to fall victim to this in the past, but today I made sure to stay strong.

Ok, I’ll admit – I cheated a little with this challenge. I had intended to go to Whole Foods for inspiration, but before even stepping foot in the store, I went to their website to see if any interesting-looking seafood was on sale (let’s be honest: my current grocery budget doesn’t allow for much in the fresh seafood department). I spotted manila clams, on sale for $4.59/lb…hmmmmm…… Yet another clatter confession: preparing seafood intimidates me. Not only that, it’s not usually my favorite thing to eat either. Of course, now that I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I’ve already written posts on sautéed tilapia and shrimp scampi. I suppose I owe a thank you to clatter for helping me get over one of my many culinary fears! Shrimp and tilapia might be one thing, but clams? I just don’t know about that. They seem much more intense – and allow much more room for error. I guess I would soon find out whether my assumptions were fair.

In my attempt to stick to my WF rule, I walked through the front doors and headed straight to the fresh seafood. As the cheerful fishmonger began to package that pound of manila clams, he asked, among other various questions about my day, “Are you sure this is all you want?” I answered, “Oh yes, that should be plenty.” After all, how many clams does one person need to eat anyway? This looked like more than plenty. Of course, I’m sure he assumed I wasn’t cooking clams for a party of one, but I wasn’t about to share that information with the man, jolly and unassuming as he might appear. He followed up his question with another: “How are ya gonna prepare these?” “Well, I haven’t really decided yet….” “Maybe steam ‘em?” “Uh yeah, maybe.” “Well, be sure to get some crusty bread to soak up those juices!” “Right! I was thinking the same thing! Thank you!” Oh Whole Foods: a place so welcoming, you’ll even make friends with the fishmonger. So I grabbed that crusty baguette and a few more items (essentials only, I promise!), paid, received my complimentary Whole Foods bag in honor of Earth Day, and got the heck out of there without turning back.

After getting home, pouring myself a glass of wine (hey, I’m under stress here!), and sitting down to spend some time doing internet research to figure out what to do with these suckers, I learned a little bit more about the manila clam (local, a favorite among chefs for its small size) and the truth about farm-raised seafood. I’ll admit that after buying those clams, I started to feel a little guilty about buying a farm-raised product, as it seemed to destroy the very spirit of Earth Day. However, turns out that shellfish farming is environmentally friendly because it allows clams to still live on the seawater’s natural nutrients and thus produce no pollution. Phew - what a relief!

As I’ve already asserted, I don’t know a lot about clams, but I do know that they are usually either fried or prepared with white wine, so I thought that was probably a good start - especially since I already had a bottle of Pinot Gris open in the fridge. Well, long story still long, I finally decided to adapt a recipe I found online and came up with the following:

AR’s manila clams in white wine with tomatoes and bacon (aka AR’s Earth Day Celebration for One)

1 lb manila clams, rinsed and soaking in salted ice water until used
bacon, one slice chopped
clove of garlic, minced
couple of dashes of oregano
1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup of dry white wine
1 can of good quality whole tomatoes, chopped coarsely (Ina swears that canned tomatoes that come whole taste better than already diced – I’ll believe anything that comes out of that woman's mouth)

Heat oil in pan and sauté garlic and bacon until golden. Add wine until boiling, then the clams and tomatoes. Cover and remain on high heat, shaking pan occasionally. Clams should be done within five minutes. Discard any reject clams that never opened. No losers in my batch! I think it’s a good omen!

This is a very quick process, and a rewarding one at that. I stand corrected: clams are not tough to prepare after all! Swimming in that ravishing pool of white wine and tomatoes, these clams would be incredible over pasta – but I stuck to the fishmonger’s advice and just dunked my bread in it. Not a bad way to go at all.

Are you wondering what happened to the other component of the challenge? Well, considering my novice status with clams, I decided to keep my “in the earth” component simple by just roasting a red potato and turnip, both local and organic, with olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, rosemary, and a dash of cayenne. Cop out? Maybe (what can I say – the clams were the main event), but they still tasted pretty good aside the clams… even if I was too full to enjoy most of it after eating every single last clam. But holidays are about overindulgence, right? clatter proposes that Earth Day should be no different. And so, in short, this challenge rendered a certain result that just spoke of fresh, local ingredients - straight from the earth and into the clatter kitchen. That’s always something I can celebrate.