Expat Living The Spanish Way – Cooking Sailors Clams
January 25th, 2009 - Chris MarshallFollowing on from my recent cooking lesson with Juan Carlos, I have become somewhat addicted to cooking Sailors Clams at home.
One thing that I learnt with Juan Carlos, is that however much you may want to, replicating the professionalism of the commercial kitchen in your home just isn’t going to happen: they have all the ingredients prepared the correct way, they always have the correct amount of the right ingredients as they are cooking the dish all the time, and that is after all why they can charge, and we are happy to pay.
Clams Sailors Style has been a favourite dish of mine for a few years now. It is perfect as a starter, or even as a raciones if you want a light meal with plenty of flavour. Either way it is best shared, as it is a perfect meal for sharing as you chat. Best consumed with crusty fresh bread (to mop up the sauce) and a nice glass or two of wine, red is OK, but personally I prefer a very cold white wine with mine.
There are many recipes for Sailors Clams on the internet, and Juan Carlos has his own personalised recipe that it would be wrong of me to divulge, but I have come up with a recipe for a relatively cheap and easy version to cook at home. Now, to me cooking is a matter of taste totally, so I never really worry about measuring out the ingredients, especially on meals like this, so my suggestion is to give it a go and find the balance that works for you.
The ingredients that you will require are:
- Fresh Clams – I use Almeja Japonesa from the Mercadona at 3.45€ for 500g
- Fresh Garlic – 1.35€ for 6 bulbs
- Cheap White ‘cooking wine’ – El Egido Vino Blanco 1.15€ a bottle
- Olive Oil (about 6 tablespoons I guess
- Bay leafs (3)
- Dried Chillies (2)
- Parsley (dry or fresh)
Here is what I do with the ingredients:
- Chop the onion, 2 dried chillies (depends on taste), and 4 garlic cloves (depends on taste) up very fine
- Saute the onion, chilli, and garlic in the olive oil
- Add the Bay Leafs and Parsley
- Add the clams and cover the saucepan for 5 to 10 minutes until the clams have opened*
- Add the wine (again as much as you like depending on how much sauce you want) and cook for a further 5 mins
When cooked dump the whole lot into a bowl, grab some crusty bread, a glass of wine and sit down to enjoy!
* remember when cooking clams, wash them well before hand, and discard any that have opened or have started to open more than just a crack!
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