Ingredients:
1 kg. (2 pounds) littleneck clams
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb, chopped into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped into small pieces
1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces
1 glass white wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
Zest from 1 lime
Salt & pepper
For serving: melted butter
To clean clams: place them in a large bowl and cover with cold water. While sitting the sand (if any) will come out of the clams and set in the bottom of the bowl. Carefully transfer the clams into another bowl. Cover with water again and let them sit for another 20 minutes.
Remove from the water and rinse.
To cook clams: In a large saucepan heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add fennel, onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper. Cook until soft and golden brown. Add wine and let reduce by half. Add sugar and clams and stir /sugar is added here to balance the acidity of the wine, so it’s better if you adjust the amount to taste/. Cover the saucepan with a lit and let clams cook for 2 minutes, then open the lit and stir to coat with the wine sauce and the fennel and onion. Season with basil, thyme, zest, salt and pepper. Cook for another minute or until all clams open.
Before serving pour a little bit of melted butter over the clams. *Discard all clams that had not opened.
Serve with grilled bread.

Imagine my face when I saw these little, delicious, fresh clams nicely placed on the fish counter.

I didn’t have to think even for a second whether to buy or not… well, I was actually wondering whether to buy scallops as well, as they were so pretty and finely arranged next to the clams. But of course I could not resist to buy the clams. May be it will sound weird, but clams are very rare to be found in Bulgaria. They are certainly a delicacy, since I have seen them in a restaurant menu only a few times, and therefore, you can’t purchase them everyday from every store around.

In Bulgaria we have mussels, mussel farms and special restaurants where all you can eat is mussels, including desserts with mussels.

But anyone who have tried both mussels and clams would agree that clams can not be compared with anything – the taste is amazing, lighter, the texture is more delicate and not to forget the fact that clams do not need so much of cleaning procedures than the mussels.

All in all – one of my favorite seafood treat!

Serve them with buttery pasta and melted butter on the side and everyone will fall in love with this meal instantly.

 

Ingredients:

800 grams clams, rinsed and cleaned

1 large onion, finely chopped

5-6 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup (250 ml.) white wine

5 table spoons olive oil

1 tea spoon chili powder

2 table spoons finely chopped parsley

1 tea spoon lime juice

Salt & Pepper

5 table spoons butter

For the pasta:
150 grams uncooked pasta (of your choice)
2-3 table spoons butter
Salt and Pepper

Clean the clams:

Place them in a large bowl and cover with water, let them sit for 20 minutes. While sitting the sand (if any) will come out of the clams and set in the bottom of the bow. Carefully transfer the clams into another bowl. Make sure to do that using a spatula, since you do not want the sand to come back into the clams. Cover with water again and let them sit for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the water and rinse.

Heat the olive oil on medium high in a large saucepan, cook the onions and garlic until lightly crisp and brown.

Add the chili, salt, pepper and the wine.

Cook the wine for 5-6 minutes until it starts to boil.

Add the the clams and cover with the lit until they open up. Stir a couple of times.

Discard all of the clams which did not open from the cooking.
Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Once ready, strain, but do not rinse.

While it is still hot add the butter, salt and pepper and mix well.