Seafood – Page 3 – Cooking from Books

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Tablewine

Linguine alle Vongole

Last night, we enjoyed our favorite seafood pasta: linguine alle vongole, linguine with white clam sauce. It’s a relatively quick and easy dish to prepare, but it does require attention to detail: slow poaching of the garlic in the olive oil to extract optimal flavor, just a pinch of Calabrian red pepper flakes, a final addition of finely minced fresh garlic and lemon zest at the end to add brightness.

As with most Italian cooking, the primary ingredients must be of the highest quality. For this reason, sometimes you have to adjust a recipe by what’s available in the market. Such was the case yesterday. Typically I use either Manila or small littlenecks for this dish. However, yesterday, there were none of the former and the latter were just too big. But I did find some wonderfully fresh cockles, which I find a tad sweeter than clams.

2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 teaspoon Calabrian red pepper flakes
2 pounds small clams (littleneck, Manila, or cockles), scrubbed if necessary and rinsed. Inspect the clams discarding any that are cracked or that are open and do not close when pinched.
1/3 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup Italian (flat leaf) parsley, chopped fine
8 oz linguine
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon, unsalted butter
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, starting from room temperature, poach 3/4 of the garlic and the pepper flakes in the olive oil over a low flame until aromatic. Add a pinch of the parsley for the final minute of sautéing. The garlic should take on only the lightest hint of gold color.

At this point, liberally salt the water (add the salt slowly to avoid boiling over) and start cooking the pasta. Cook the pasta following package directions for 1 minute less than al dente

Add the clams, wine, and 3/4 of the parsley to the sauté pan, raise the heat and bring to a high simmer over medium high heat. Cover the pan tightly and shaking occasionally, cook the clams until they open. About 6 minutes.

Remove the clams with a slotted spoon, discarding any that do not open, sprinkle them with the lemon zest. Raise the flame to high and bring the sauce remaining in the pan to a boil. Add the butter. Using tongs or a pasta fork, immediately transfer the cooked pasta to the sauté pan and toss for about a minute to coat the pasta. If too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water. At this point, the pasta will be the perfect al dente

Transfer the pasta and sauce to a bowl, add the clams, the remaining 1/4 of the minced garlic, and sprinkle with the remaining parsley. Serve on warmed plates with a few grinds of fresh black pepper if desired.

Wine Pairing: Soave, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Tablewine

Fregola with Manila Clams

Last night we had a tasty dish of fregola (Sardinian couscous) with Manila clams. The attached recipe is from BBC television cook Nigella Lawson. The link below to the BBC site also has a helpful video of the recipe.

Lawson calls for tomato puree, which is actually a concentrated tomato paste. I used an imported one from Italy that comes in a tube. After adding it to the pan, I let it toast slightly while stirring it before I added the broth and the vermouth. I think toasting the paste makes for a deeper tomato flavor.

For the small clams called for in the recipe, I used the Manila variety, which I find have a delicious briny sweetness to them. Note that the clams may take a minute or two more to open than the 3 minutes called for in the recipe. Shaking the covered pan may help the clams to open.

This is a quick and easy to prepare dish for a weeknight meal. And if you don’t have fregola in the cupboard, it’s worth a trip to your Italian specialty store or an online search to find some. Here’s a link to the BBC Recipe.

I paired the dish with a 2013 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare, a Rhone-style blend rosé. A crisp dry rosé, with hints of strawberry on the nose and an earthy minerality, it was the perfect complement to the briny fregola.

Wine Pairing: Dry Rosé, Dry Riesling, Pinot Grigio

Posted on May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 by Tablewine · 1 Comment

Mussels Marinara

Tuesday is usually a fish day for us. So last night, I prepared Mussels Marinara. I’m not sure how I came up with this recipe, but over the years I’ve been tweaking it. The marinara sauce is based on that of my Neapolitan aunt, who would often prepare it for a weekday dinner’s first-course pasta. The process of steaming the mussels open in the sauce comes from many recipes I’ve used for preparing clams for pasta with olive oil, garlic, and parsley.

This is a relatively easy and quick dish to prepare; perfect for a weekday night.

2 pounds mussels, rinsed and debearded. (I use farmed mussels, which are easier to clean and require a minimum of debearding.)
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced about 1/8 inch thick
3 Tbs chopped parsley (1 for the sauce; 2 for finishing)
28 oz can of crushed Italian tomatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp crushed red-pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1 tsp dried oregano (If you opt for more oregano, be careful not to overdo it, as too much oregano can overwhelm the taste of the mussels.)

1. Clean and debeard mussels, discarding any cracked or opened ones. I keep them in a bowl with cold water slowly running over them and then lift them up out of the water with a spider or small sieve.

2. In a large deep, 3 quart, sauté pan, over low heat add oil and garlic. Poach the garlic slowly for about 5 minutes until they become aromatic and before they take on any color.|

3. Add 1 Tbs of the parsley and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more.

4. Add tomatoes and bring to simmer.

5. Add red-pepper flakes and oregano. Rub the oregano in your palms to release maximum flavor.

6. Add wine and simmer uncovered over medium low heat for 15 minutes.

7. Add mussels to to the pan and stir coating them with the sauce.

8. Cover the pan tightly. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan, until the mussels have opened.

9. Transfer to a large bowl with the sauce, discarding any mussels that have not opened. Finish with the remaining parsley and, if desired, a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve, in warmed bowls, with thick slices of grilled or toasted Italian bread to sop up the sauce.

Wine Pairing: A young Salento Rosso for a red; a Fiano di Avellino for a white.