Steamed Clams, Portuguese Style

Submitted by JaneinRI

"With a large Portuguese population in RI, this is typical of how steamed clams are served ('steamers'). This is a combo of several recipes. It's great w/some crusty bread to sop us the broth. Prep time includes 4 hrs cold water bath in fridge."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 40mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 5

ingredients

• 1⁄4 cup olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 lbs linguica sausage or 2 lbs chorizo sausage, sliced into 3 to 4 inch lengths (portuguese sausage)
• 1 large onion, sliced into wedges
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup water
• 5 lbs clams in shell (smaller the better)
• lemon wedge (optional)
• chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• cilantro (optional)

directions

1. Prepare clams: put them in a bowl or pan and cover with cold water; add some cornmeal& salt to the water- they'll ingest this and'spit out' any sand they're carrying.
2. Leave them in this for 4 hrs, changing to clean water about halfway through.
3. Discard any open clams.
4. In a large stockpot, warm the oil over medium heat.
5. Add the garlic& red pepper; saute until garlic is golden.
6. Add the sausage, onion, tomatoes, wine& water; stir to mix.
7. Add the clams, turn heat to high& cover- steam until clams open- approximately 8 minutes.
8. Discard any clams that do not open.
9. Divide clams and broth into 5 soup bowls; if desired, sprinkle with parsley& cilantro and serve with a lemon wedge.

Reviews

[Scoops]

Excellent variation to one of my favorite recipes! My variation: omit the tomatoes and use fresh marjoram instead of cilantro! Thanks for your version.