Clams Cataplana
I may be a little grandiose in my statements about this dish but you have to try it to understand. This dish requires each individual serving to have the final cooking done separately. When I serve this dish I prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time and then have three to five of my friends (I have a six burner stove) all cook the individual servings at the same time. We are all standing around the stove together, and I give instructions on what to do. It is always a lot of fun and some great laughs. Cooking together is a great part of the social dining experience. dont invite someone for this meal who expects to be waited on!
I may be a little grandiose in my statements about this dish but you have to try it to understand. This dish requires each individual serving to have the final cooking done separately. When I serve this dish I prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time and then have three to five of my friends (I have a six burner stove) all cook the individual servings at the same time. We are all standing around the stove together, and I give instructions on what to do. It is always a lot of fun and some great laughs. Cooking together is a great part of the social dining experience. dont invite someone for this meal who expects to be waited on!
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/2 stick butter
- 24 littleneck clams in the shell
- 1/4 cup chorizo or hot italian sausage diced
- 1/4 cup linguica sausage diced
- 2 slices bacon fried, diced and crumbled
- 1/4 cup green bell peppers finely diced
- 1/4 cup white onions chopped
- 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1/4 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- 2 cups seafood stock
- 1 dash tabasco sauce (or to taste)
- molho tomato sauce
- Carbohydrate 17.8060797896625 g
- Cholesterol 282.535 mg
- Fat 78.4588709744514 g
- Fiber 1.95748481965939 g
- Protein 63.7823981996736 g
- Saturated Fat 38.7565697898345 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (1048g)
- Sodium 1403.98370455923 mg
- Sugar 15.8485949700031 g
- Trans Fat 8.94284446450018 g
- Calories 1047 calories
Step-by-step
- Melt the butter in a 12 inch skillet and saut? the linguica and chorizo cubes until browned, add the crumbled bacon, onions, scallion leaves, garlic, green pepper, parsley, mushrooms, fresh tomato and black pepper, saut?, stirring frequently until the vegetables are limp and transparent.
- Add the white wine and stir it in. Scrape the bottom and sides of the skillet to dissolve any brown particles clinging to the pan, This stuff imparts a wallop to the sauce.
- Add the Molho tomato sauce and the Tabasco and stir them in. The Portuguese call this concoction a "sofrito" and it forms the basis of many dishes.
- Smooth the sauce out on the bottom of the pan and lay the little necks on top of it. Pour two cups of the seafood stock over the clams. Cover the skillet and cook until the clams open. Discard any that look suspicious.
- Transfer the dish to a deep soup bowl.
- Drink lots of Lancers wine and dip Portuguese rolls in it. It is heaven!
Heavy cast iron or heavy-bottomed stainless steel skillets are mandatory here to distribute heat evenly across the wide surface area without scorching the rendered cured meats. Render the chorizo, linguica, and bacon over medium-low heat to extract maximum fat before introducing aromatics; rushing this step burns the garlic prematurely at 325 degrees Fahrenheit and introduces bitterness. When swapping Portuguese linguica for standard smoked sausage, expect a lower paprika profile, which requires a compensatory pinch of smoked Spanish paprika added directly to the butter during the initial sauté. Deglazing the pan with white wine requires aggressive scraping with a wooden spatula to dissolve fond, ensuring those caramelized proteins enrich the seafood stock rather than sticking to the metal. Seafood stock should be warmed before pouring over the littleneck clams to prevent a sudden temperature drop that delays opening time past the eight-minute mark. Discard any mollusk failing to gap open fully after steaming under a tight lid.
