IMakeFood

Fresh, whole clams are delicious! If you ever see them, you should try them out. Don't be too daunted by their appearance. Just make sure they're tightly closed when you buy them, otherwise, they're probably dead and won't be very good to eat.

Clams in White Wine and Tomato Sauce on Angel Hair Pasta

2 Tbs olive oil

1 2oz can of anchovies in olive oil

2 Tbs garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red chili flakes

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 small onion, finely diced

1 can roasted tomatoes, small dice

1 cup dry white wine

40 littleneck clams

16 ounces angel hair pasta

Method:

Scrub the clams to remove any loose grit. Discard any open ones that won't close back up.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Over a medium high flame, heat the olive oil in a large pot, like a Dutch oven, or in my kitchen the ever useful wok. When the oil shimmers, add the anchovies and cook until they start breaking down. Then add the garlic, crushed red chili, basil and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 15-20 seconds. Add the onion and cook until softened. Add the tomatoes and cook until slightly softened, smashing some of the tomatoes. Add the white wine and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes until slightly reduced.

Add pasta to the boiling, well salted water.

Add the clams to the sauce. Wait a few minutes and give it a stir. In about 6-8 minutes, the clams should all start opening up. Give the clams another few stirs and help the ones that didn't open. If it's very resistant, discard.

With tongs or a pasta spoon, transfer the pasta from the boiling water straight into the pan of clams. Toss well. If it's a little dry, add a little bit of pasta water until desired consistency is achieved.

Divide the pasta on to four plates and arrange the clams attractively on top. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley or grated cheese, if desired. Serve immediately.

Alternately, the clams can be served as an appetizer dish. Just omit the pasta and serve with crusty bread.

In an effort to make my blog a little more interesting, I've decided to add recipes to some of these posts, as requested. If you do use my recipes, let me know how it turns out... I'd like some feedback to know if the recipes work. I don't normally use recipes and just cook by sight and taste. So, on that note, here goes...

Pad Thai

1 16 oz package fresh rice sticks/pad thai noodles*

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup tamarind pureé **

1/3 cup fish sauce, 3 crabs brand preferred

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, more if a spicier dish is is preferred

1 tsp curry powder

4 eggs, beaten

16 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes

4 scallions, green part cut into 1 inch pieces and whites sliced on the bias or Chinese chives (garlic chives)

4 Tbs peanut oil

12 ounces bean sprouts, divided

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges

***optional: chicken, beef or shrimp

Method:

In a small bowl, mix the tamarind pureé, fish sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes and curry powder. Set aside.

Heat a wok over high heat until hot. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add the tofu. Cook until golden, keeping the tofu moving constantly. Remove tofu from pan and place into a bowl and set aside.

If necessary, add 1 more tablespoon of oil to the wok and heat over a medium flame. Add the eggs. Once they begin to set, about 20- 30 seconds, stir to scramble. Remove from pan into a small bowl.

Add the rest of the oil and heat over a medium high flame. Once hot, add the garlic and scallion whites and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss in between each addition: noodles, sauce, tofu, eggs and scallion greens. Turn off heat. Add half the bean sprouts and toss. The heat from the noodles will wilt the sprouts without over cooking them.

Transfer on to four plates and top each with the remainder of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Serve with a couple of lime wedges. Serve immediately.

*Fresh pad thai noodles are usually found in the refrigerated section of most Asian markets. If you can't find fresh noodles, dried may be used. Just soak in very hot water for 10 minutes while you're putting all the other ingredients together and drain before using.

**Tamarind pureé concentrate can be found in the spice section of most Asian markets. If you can't find that, there is usually a brick of tamarind paste and you can use that. Just break off a piece and boil in water until soften and strain through a fine mesh sieve.

***If you want to use meat, cook it after the tofu. Slice about 1/2 lb of beef or chicken thinly across the grain, or if using shrimp, add about half a pound of medium peeled and deveined. Season with salt and pepper and stir fry until just done over medium high heat and remove to a bowl. Add it back after adding the noodles but before the sauce.

***** I was informed that the previous recipe I wrote did not work, so I have re-worked the recipe a little bit and I got a better result.

Here are pictures of exactly what I used and how I did it.

Fresh Pad Thai Noodles, a can of Tamarind pureé and a bag of mung bean sprouts. I like to rinse the noodles before using just to remove some of the excess starch to reduce the gumminess and to loosen the noodles.

Four cloves of chopped garlic. Today, I used two sliced habañeros. I removed the seeds and membranes from them to reduce the heat. The Thai bird chiles and the shallots were prepped then for the cucumber salad.

Fresh Chinese chives (garlic chives) from my garden. Cut into 2-3 inch pieces.

I also opted for the chicken today, so, I sliced that thinly against the grain. From upper left, clockwise: Beaten eggs, bean sprouts, habañero, tofu, chicken, garlic, Chinese chives, pad thai noodles, sauce mix. Note: when making the sauce, taste it and adjust the sour/sweet/salty to your liking. I think it was almost two cups of sauce. You can add a little water to thin it down and help the noodles cook.

Fry tofu. Keep stirring to keep it from burning. Cook until desired crispness. Remove to a plate.

Stir fry the chicken until just done. Remove from pan.

The eggs: I like to make a "scrambled omelette" which is a cross between scrambled eggs and omelettes. Keeping it whole at this point ensures that you have have large egg curds in the end. Pour the eggs into a medium heat pan. Allow it to set for a few seconds and start pushing the cooked part to one side and swirl the uncooked eggs to the exposed pan.

It will start to form nice layers.

Try to keep the eggs in one large piece.

Flip the egg to just set the top. Remove from pan.

Add chiles and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add noodles and half of the sauce. Stir to distribute and start cooking the noodles.

Add the chicken, tofu and eggs. Add the rest of the sauce and stir. Add chives. Stir. At this point, check the doneness of the noodles. If they are still a little under-done, add up to 1/2 cup of water to cook the noodles through. A little at a time...

Turn off the heat and add half the bean sprouts.

Hopefully, it looks something like this.

Plated with limes, additional bean sprouts and peanuts.

- Because I added the chicken, the resulting pad thai had more "stuff" than noodles, so if you prefer more noodles, you should reduce the amount of tofu and chicken. I used 1 cake of fresh tofu and 2 chicken breasts.

I also made a pickled cucumber salad as a side dish.