What to do with my huge seafoody haul from Richard Haward Oysters?
At last year's Real Food Festival, the man himself gave me my first taste of raw clam.
Admittedly, I wasn't too impressed at the time - it was a bit too chewy - but I thought I would try again (plus the stallholder at the Southbank Centre told me that raw clam deserved a second chance).
So I went home with my little basket of big clams to try to open the suckers.
Ten stabbing attempts later, oyster knife glancing off the clam shells repeatedly, I gave up.
These babies were totally impenetrable.
So I shucked the rock oysters I'd got instead - these were huge, twice the size of the ones from See Woo - and then decided to make Asian style sake clams.
Sake Steamed Clams
- 6 big clams
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 inch chunk of ginger
- 6 coriander sprigs
- 1 red chilli
- 100 ml sake
- 100 ml water
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- 1 flat tbsp of butter
Scrub the clams and discard any that don't close.
Place the clams in a saucepan and pour over the sake and the water. Add the ginger, garlic, chilli and butter.
Cover with a lid and then steam on high for five minutes.
Discard any clams that don't open.
Tip the clams into a serving dish with all the juices, sprinkle with coriander and serve.
This isn't an authentic Japanese recipe for sake clams (hamaguri shigure-ni or asari no sakamushi) eg they wouldn't use coriander for a start, but I like to mix things up.
Anyway, this was absolutely delicious - but I think I might take a break from seafood for a bit ...
Comments