Clams with Virginia Ham in white wine sauce
This is a very basic meal, simple and quick to prepare. Virginia ham is a very underrated product and absolutely delicious cooked or uncooked, certainly as good as some Spanish jamon in thin slices.
Not much can go wrong cooking this dish, but remember that clams have thick shells so they take longer to open up than mussels, even so don’t overcook them or they will be rubbery. Dont worry about undercooking. If they are open they are ready. You can eat clams raw as well. Makes a great starter with fresh crusty bread or a main course with any type of pasta.
You need:
Clams, about 10 medium size clams per person.
Onion
Garlic (Wild garlic if possible, it grows everywhere in Virginia. It has a milder flavour so you need more, but it is free!) – add picture
Celery
Bottle of white wine
Butter
Whipping cream
Virginia ham
Parsley
Black pepper
Preparation:
Rinse the clams in cold water vigorously to clean off any sand or mud, strain off all the water and put them to one side. Cut a half slice of Virginia ham into small squares.
Chop up: one large onion, two cloves of garlic (four if it is wild garlic) two tender celery stalks and a bundle of parsley.
Cooking:
Melt butter in a large saucepan. First add the bacon and let it brown very slightly then add the chopped celery, onions and garlic and cook gently on a low heat until soft. Do not add salt as the ham is very salty. Grind some fresh black pepper over the pan.
Add about half a bottle of wine and let it simmer. This is to get the alcohol out of the wine, you just want to taste the wine not make a cocktail!
When you can hardly smell alcohol any more it is time to add the clams.
Bring the mixture to the boil, throw in a good handful of chopped parsley and then add the clams, dropping them in one by one. All the clams should be just under the surface of the mixture, if not then add more wine.
Now just check every couple of minutes to make sure the clams have all opened. Turn them over with a wooden spoon to make sure they all get cooked.
It is possible that even with fresh clams you will get one or two that don’t open. That is fine, but most of them will open. The ones that don’t you can take out at the next stage.
With the clams cooked remove the pan from the heat and strain the liquid off the clams through a strainer into a bowl – don’t throw it away! Put the clams on one side.
The sauce:
Pour the liquid from the clams from the bowl into a saucepan and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, add more parsley and check seasoning. Add about a half to one pint of cream, it is a matter of taste how much. Simmer and stir for about 5 minutes.
Turn the clams into a large serving bowl and pour the sauce over the clams. Enjoy!
This is a very basic meal, simple and quick to prepare. Virginia ham is a very underrated product and absolutely delicious cooked or uncooked, certainly as good as some Spanish jamon in thin slices.
Not much can go wrong cooking this dish, but remember that clams have thick shells so they take longer to open up than mussels, even so don’t overcook them or they will be rubbery. Dont worry about undercooking. If they are open they are ready. You can eat clams raw as well. Makes a great starter with fresh crusty bread or a main course with any type of pasta.
You need:
Clams, about 10 medium size clams per person.
Onion
Garlic (Wild garlic if possible, it grows everywhere in Virginia. It has a milder flavour so you need more, but it is free!) – add picture
Celery
Bottle of white wine
Butter
Whipping cream
Virginia ham
Parsley
Black pepper
Preparation:
Rinse the clams in cold water vigorously to clean off any sand or mud, strain off all the water and put them to one side. Cut a half slice of Virginia ham into small squares.
Chop up: one large onion, two cloves of garlic (four if it is wild garlic) two tender celery stalks and a bundle of parsley.
Cooking:
Melt butter in a large saucepan. First add the bacon and let it brown very slightly then add the chopped celery, onions and garlic and cook gently on a low heat until soft. Do not add salt as the ham is very salty. Grind some fresh black pepper over the pan.
Add about half a bottle of wine and let it simmer. This is to get the alcohol out of the wine, you just want to taste the wine not make a cocktail!
When you can hardly smell alcohol any more it is time to add the clams.
Bring the mixture to the boil, throw in a good handful of chopped parsley and then add the clams, dropping them in one by one. All the clams should be just under the surface of the mixture, if not then add more wine.
Now just check every couple of minutes to make sure the clams have all opened. Turn them over with a wooden spoon to make sure they all get cooked.
It is possible that even with fresh clams you will get one or two that don’t open. That is fine, but most of them will open. The ones that don’t you can take out at the next stage.
With the clams cooked remove the pan from the heat and strain the liquid off the clams through a strainer into a bowl – don’t throw it away! Put the clams on one side.
The sauce:
Pour the liquid from the clams from the bowl into a saucepan and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, add more parsley and check seasoning. Add about a half to one pint of cream, it is a matter of taste how much. Simmer and stir for about 5 minutes.
Turn the clams into a large serving bowl and pour the sauce over the clams. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment