EVERGREENS AND TOMATOES
About the Recipe
A delicious white wine and butter broth to complement those fresh clams. I recommend picking up a baguette to soak up all of the flavors of the broth.
Ingredients
2-4 lbs of clams (1lb/person) - there are 2lbs of clams in the picture below
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp salted butter
1/2 yellow or sweet onion
10-15 cloves of garlic - this is not a recipe I skimp on garlic, but you can add +/- depending on your individual taste
1 cup white wine (pinot gris, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, most white blends, etc - just not a sweet, white wine)
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
chopped parsley
salt to taste
Preparation
Step 1:
Dice up the 1/2 onion and press (or mince the garlic). Add the olive oil to a large pot and transfer to stovetop and add the onions and garlic. Cook the garlic and and onions until the onions are translucent and then add the cup of white wine.
Step 2:
Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook down the white wine. Do not rush this step, it is important you cook the wine down all the way to avoid having a very wine and boozy flavored broth. You will know when it is done when you can run a spoon through the pot and you don't see the liquid running. Be sure you don't cook it too long that it starts to stick and burn to the pan.
Step 3:
Add the chicken or vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. This is the point you will want to salt to taste. Once the sauce is to your liking add the chopped parsley and clams, then cover.
Note: the clams do not need to all be completely submerged to cook. When you cover the pot it will steam those not fully in the liquid.
Step 4:
Simmer while covered for 10-15 minutes (depending on the volume of clams in the pot), then do a quick stir and check to see if all (or at least greater than 95%) of the clam shells are open. If they aren't, then cover and continue cooking for a few minutes and check again. It is possible a couple of the clams may not open, discard these and don't try to force them open. Once all of the shells are open (or at least almost all), then transfer to a serving bowl and ladle over the sauce and serve.
I recommend serving with some bread so that people can soak up all of the delicious broth.
Turned out great!