Spaghetti with clams

One of my favorite parts of cooking is basing a meal on one ingredient that's been hanging around for a bit too long. One night, I had several gorgeous tomatoes sitting around, "on their way out," as Mom would say. So I envisioned a simple but hearty pasta sauce to use up all five of my up-until-then forgotten tomatoes.

I considered a ragu or bolognese-type sauce, but then realized I'd been eating plenty of meat lately and not that much seafood. A spaghetti with clams therefore seemed like the perfect solution.

I didn't follow a recipe to make this, so many measurements are approximate. However, it was so good I definitely plan on making it again and, hence, thought I should share it.

Spaghetti with clams

1/2 lb. Spaghetti
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
1 lb. Littleneck Clams, scrubbed clean
Salt and Red Pepper Flakes
1/3 cup Clam Juice
5 Tomatoes, diced
Parsley Leaves

Set a pot of salted water to boil. When it has, add the Spaghetti and cook according to package instructions. Meanwhile, make the Sauce:

Heat Oil in a skillet. Add Garlic, Clams, Salt and Red Pepper Flakes to taste. Saute about 1 minute, add Clam Juice and stir. Cook about 1 minute, add Tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Drain pasta and toss with Clams and Tomato Sauce. Sprinkle Parsley on top. Serve.

recipe and Main Dish and Seafood

Moules grilles sur un lit d'onions

Because we were traveling and didn't have internet access, I was unable to participate in Blog appetit #4: Moules et Onions. Or, rather, I came up with and made a dish the night before leaving New York, but never got around to writing it up. Today, I was making a desperate attempt to organize the pictures on my computer and stumbled across this one.

When I think of summer food, I always think of two things: the beachy smell of salt air and barbecue. This is probably because I spent many of my summers growing up in Long Beach, Long Island, visiting my maternal grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins. Very often we would spend a day at the beach and then head over to my aunt and uncle's for barbecue. Of course, our barbecues always consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs and hunks of chicken, with occasional grilled red peppers, portabello mushrooms or onions. Nothing gourmet, but the whole family was together and enjoying ourselves and that was the most important thing.

Before I left New York, the weather was sticky and I would have given anything to head out to the beach for a day. Since that was impossible, I decided to bring the beach to me. Seafood, especially fresh mussels, always smell like the ocean to me, with their salty freshness. I had recently read about grilling them and was curious about the taste, but I had no grill. Instead, I broiled them for a few minutes and served them on a bed of sweet onions. The result? A light, painless, refreshing summer meal.

Moules grilles sur un lit d'onions

Moules grilles

2 pounds Mussels
Juice of 1 Lemon

Pre-heat broiler. Clean Mussels, under cold water, being sure to remove all barnacles from the surface. Discard any with cracked shells or that do not close even when tapped. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place Mussels on top, with as much space between them as possible. Broil for 5-8 minutes, until all are opened. Carefully (the shells will be very hot!) remove meat from shells and place on Onion Salad. Squeeze generous amounts of Lemon Juice on top.

Onion Salad

1 Sweet Onion
Salt and Pepper
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 teaspoon Honey

Mix well and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Oeufs brouilles aux crevettes

Scrambled eggs and shrimps

Yesterday afternoon I was down in the fourteenth, which means near a really nice, big fish store. So, wanting an easy dinner, I bought some already cooked shrimps (they were having a special) and decided to make scrambled eggs, since the Boy had bought quite a few eggs before he left. I also picked up some crunchy Chinese noodles to sprinkle on top for a change of texture. It all came out quite good, rather light, with the world's largest artichoke and a vinaigrette to make it into a balanced meal (or something). And a fruity white wine.

Oeufs brouilles aux crevettes

4 Eggs
2 tablespoons Milk
Salt and Pepper
Oil
2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
250 grams cooked Shrimp, peeled
handful Chinese crispy noodles

Crack Eggs into bowl and beat, with Milk, until creamy. Add Salt and Pepper. Heat Oil in pan over medium heat until it spits when water is spritzed on. Lower heat to medium-low and pour in Egg mixture, stirring to keep it from sticking to the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add Garlic and Shrimp, moving everything around, until shrimps are heated through. Remove from flame and crumble crunchy noodles on top. Serve.