Today I make a very simple Portuguese style garlic clams which is very popular in Portuguese gastronomy as a snack. You can use your preferable clams for this recipe, but I use smooth clams which are also known as a smooth Callista. I cook them with enough butter, lots of garlic, white wine and other aromatic ingredients. This is a very easy to cook snack in short time. I hope you give it a try! Enjoy...
Cooking time 20 minutes
Serving 2
Ingredients
1 kg of fresh Smooth Clams
4 tablespoons of Butter
12-15 Garlic cloves sliced
1 Chili chopped (optional)
1 Handful of Spring Coriander
Half Lemon
200ml of White Wine
½ teaspoon of Paprika
1 Bay leaf
Salt at your taste
How to cook
First clean the Clams, add 1 table spoon of salt and cover them with water for 4 hours or overnight. After 4 hours we can see the clams have already released the sand and impurities, then scrub them to clean their shells. After cleaning drain them and pass them with clean water that helps to remove the salt. Our clams are ready to cook.
Now turn on the gas over high heat, add the butter straight in and wait for it to melt, add the garlic and mix until the garlic gets soft, let garlic to be infused with butter.
Then add the clams and chili, add half teaspoon of paprika and 1 bay leaf and mix it very well, add white wine and bring it to boil to evaporate the alcohol then cover it and cook them until all clams are open or 10 minutes for big clams. After all opened, take the lid off.
Next add salt, remember to taste before adding it because it can still have the salt from soaking. Then add lemon juice and spring coriander and give a mix very well, do not cook more because we want fresh aroma from coriander.
Now our garlicy, lemony and fresh aromatic Portuguese style Garlic Clams are ready.
Note: If some of the clam shells are big, they might not open by themselves easily even though it already cooked, if so give a little touch and it should open, but if they don’t open after you touch it means it’s not eatable.
