Steamed Clams

 

I love steamed clams. I like small clams such as littlenecks, cherrystone, and Manila clams. Steamer clams are larger and are the ones with that disgusting black thing sticking out on the side of the clam. I’ve eaten them, but they are things I eat quickly and do not look at or think about too much.

Last Thursday, I made the bbq chicken Marty suggested that I just wrote about last night. I saw a bag of cherrystone clams at Shop-Rite and picked up a bag as an appetizer for us. The fishmonger said they were very sweet and delicious. Done deal!

Before I became serious about cooking, I thought clams were just thrown into a pot with some water and steamed. I thought the same thing when making shrimp for shrimp cocktail. Of course, you can do it that way, but then I learned about making a Court Bouillon. This is why food tastes better in restaurants.

From Wikipedia:

Court bouillon loosely translates as ‘briefly boiled liquid’ (French court) or “short broth” because the cooking time is brief in comparison with a rich and complex stock, and generally is not served as part of the finished dish. Because delicate foods do not cook for very long, it is prepared before the foods are added. Typically, cooking times do not exceed 60 minutes.

Although a court bouillon may become the base for a stock or fumet, in traditional terms it is differentiated by the inclusion of acidulating ingredients such as wine, vinegar, or lemon juice. In addition to contributing their own flavor, acids help to draw flavors from the vegetable aromatics during the short preparation time prior to use. Court bouillon also includes salt and lacks animal gelatin.

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I made my court bouillon with some white wine, salted water, lots of garlic, lemon, parsley, and a glug of olive oil. When I first started making a court bouillon, I made it a few minutes before throwing my shellfish into the broth. Now I make it ahead and gently steam it for 30 minutes, then take it off the heat. Later I get it up to a boil again and throw in my shellfish. 

The cherrystone clams were very clean. I put them in a bowl to scrub them, but no sand was left in the water. I looked through each one making sure it was still alive. Yes, they are alive. The clams should be closed tightly or shut tightly if it’s open a tiny bit. You squeeze the shell, and it closes; it’s alive; if it doesn’t, it’s dead, and you throw it away. 

These clams were beautiful! I only found 2 clams whose shells were cracked; I got rid of those. The clams had absolutely no smell, which is an excellent sign of freshness.

When my court bouillon came up to a boil, I dumped the clams into the pot and closed the lid. I waited about 10 minutes, and I checked on them. They were all open and ready to eat. 

I melted some salted butter and skimmed the white debris off the top of the butter. I didn’t have time to make clarified butter; at this point, it was 9:00 pm. Thursday was my delivery day from hell, and I got a super late start on dinner; plus, I made bbq chicken beforehand.

I piled the clams in a large bowl and poured some of the court bouillon on top of the clams, and we each had a small ramekin with melted butter to dip the clams in.

Wow! They were so sweet, tender, and delicious! The bag of cherrystone clams was $19.99, a steal for such great quality and an appetizer for the 3 of us. I’m sure it would have cost more at a restaurant for all of us. I’m also sure the liquid wouldn’t be such a flavorful court bouillon. 

I can’t wait until the next time we meet our distributor, the Alpine House, in the parking lot at Shop-Rite; I’ll go in with an open mind and hopefully come out with something as delicious to make for dinner.