Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sauteed Clam. Appetizer?

Isn't it cute. The little clam.



Last week we went to the beach. The water is nice and warm this time of year here in southern California, and the tourists are now gone, so we can finally enjoy our beach again!


While out in the surf, I wasn't exactly looking for food, I was just looking for seashells for my daughter to play with. It's funny though, because we were just talking about clamming and wondering if you can just find clams on any beach, or if they were more fond of certain conditions, like say colder water or whatever. We don't know. We just buy them. But this day I found one! Guess that answers the question of whether you can just find them anywhere. I found one in Newport Beach. It looked healthy, definitely looked alive... he was closed tightly. And I'm not sure what type of clam it was - but the shell was quite thick and strong. Not what you typically see in the stores. It was buried in the sand, but the surf uncovered it, and I picked him up!

So, there he is. Cute little clam. I don't even like clams, but hubby does, and he didn't hesitate for one second when I asked him if he wanted to take it home and cook it, "Absolutely!" he said.

But how do we even know if it's an edible variety, I wondered? He wasn't worried. so we brought it home. And I cooked it.


I was sauteing some diced peppers and garlic for our dinner, so I tossed the clam into the pan. And then added some white wine. And then we waited for the clam to open.


....... and we waited.

He wasn't giving up without a fight. That thick shell I guess just takes longer to heat up, because it took a while to open! I thought it was probably dead. But then all of a sudden...

Ahhh! There he is!!!

I don't like clams or mussels myself, but I do cook them for hubby. It's been a while since I cooked any though, and usually I presoak them in water with some flour, and that will make them expel any sand. This was one time we really needed to do this, and I forgot. This little guy was filled with sand! Hubby ate it anyway though. I could have rinsed it off, but he ate it before I had the chance. Said it was gritty, but still delicious! :)