When I first read that we had white clam sauce on the menu for this week’s Cooking Italy, I was seriously doubting that I would be making this. You have to know that I am really not a fan of shelled seafood… I just think they look scary.. But then again; I do love a good coquille and I always think you have to try something first before you can say that you don’t like it. And clams where something I had never tried before, so…. I went in search of clams. Well first I went in search of how clams are called in Dutch… and quite frankly; I still don’t know! So if anyone knows what a clam is called in Dutch please let me know.

I ended up buying ‘kokkels’ which I think is possible translated as cockles? But they look sort of similar to clams, so I figured those would do. It’s not as if you can actually buy those in the shop here. I had to call our one and only fishshop and ask them to bring it. Ofcourse that meant I had to purchase an entire kilo of them, which is really a waste. The good side was that I could practice on how to prepare them as I was – and still am – quite clueless.

Cockles

The recipe stated that you should put them in a pan on high heat and once opened remove them immediately and the juice would then be used to prepare the rest of the dish. Ok, that sounded fairly simple but what happened when I put the little beasties in the pan is that they did drip some fluids but that evaporated as soon as it hit the really hot pan! So no juice whatsoever was left after the first testrun.

The second try I figured I should ad some oliveoil into the pan before tossing them in and that worked better, although it was really a limited amount of juice. Now I didn’t toss in 20 pieces at one time, so that could have been the issue. Who knows… The recipe also states that you should pour the juices through a paper kitchen towel to get rid of any remaining sand or other stuff that shouldn’t be there, but really… that would have meant that it would all be taken in by the paper! It was that little…

I did feel kind of sorry for the little creatures… being tossed like that into a hot pan and basically being boiled alive..  A bit cruel I thought but ok, they were gonna die anyway at some point.

Apart from that whole cockle/clam adventure it was pretty straightforward, so no surprises there.

Now as far as the taste goes; I was really not impressed. Keep in mind that I am not a fan of shelled fish. There is something about them that just doesn’t really work for me.. Although I have to confess that I am probably just being squamish… I mean…. look at that thing in the shell; that – to me – does not resemble something appetizing! Ofcourse, I am glad that I tried it and I will definitely not be making this again…lol… I also thought that there was not enough juice to follow the recipe. So that part to me was a bit weird. I love pasta and most of the flavors that go with it, but this was a no go for me.

But if you are a fan of shelled fish then this just might be perfect for you! Here is the recipe:

White Clam Sauce (serves 4)

18 live clams in their shells

5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1,5 tablespoon of chopped parsley

1 red hot chili pepper

1 plum tomato, diced

100 ml dry white wine

450 gr of pasta

6 fresh basil leaves

To clean the clams put them into fresh water with salt for about 20 minutes. They will open up slightly and expel the sand that they have inside. Scrub the clams to clean them of any debris and repeat the process until no more stuff is coming of them.

Once cleaned keep them in a bowl in the fridge, uncovered so they can breath… (this is really weird as they make little popping noises while in the fridge…)

Heat up the clams to open them in hot pan. I found that you need to add either oil or a little bit of water, as otherwise the fluids coming from the clams will immediately evaporate. Make sure to cover the pan as it will jump around a bit.

As soon as the clams open up take them out of the pan using a slotted spoon, take the clams out of their shells and cut into 2 or 3 pieces unless they are very small. Put them in a small bowl and cover with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cover the bowl tightly with cling film and set aside for later but don’t put in the fridge.

Choose a skillet or saute pan that is large enough to contain the pasta later. Put in 3 tbsp of olive oil and the sliced garlic, and turn the heat up. Don’t let the garlic become coloured, then add the parsley and the chili pepper. Stir once or twice and add the diced tomato. Cook the tomato for 1-2 minutes, stirring it from time to time, then add the wine. Simmer the wine for about 20-30 seconds, letting it reduce, then turn the heat off

Cook the pasta in salted water until it is barely al dente. You don’t want the pasta to be too well done, although I did find that the juice of the clams wasn’t sufficient to cook the pasta till further so my pasta was slightly underdone.

Drain the pasta and add immediately to the skillet or saute pan, turning the heat up high and adding the clam juice. Cook, tossing and turning the pasta, until all the juice has evaporated.

Add the cut up clams with all the oil in the bowl and the torn basil leaves, toss in the pan 2-3 times, then transfer to a hot plate and serve at once.

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I don’t think I am making any of this in the right order but I’m having some trouble getting the right ingredients for the things I should be making. Angela was kind enough to give us a bonus recipe which we can use to substitute if necessary for another recipe. My plan was to make the pork but – believe it or not – I cannot find the needed piece of pork!! I haven’t tried all butcher’s yet in our hometown, but sofar number one and two were a no go. O yes, I can order it, but then I have to buy the entire piece which is a couple of kilo’s of porkmeat. No space in my freezer so… that’s not gonna work. So while I continue my search for something as simple as a porkloin (!!) I decided to make the Italian Chocolate Mousse from Marcella’s book.

I love chocolate mousse. I – in fact – love it more then I should… Really not good for the waistline! My all time favorite of chocolate mousse recipe is one of Donna Hay which I made for christmas dinner last year. I just noticed that I didn’t write down the recipe on the blog, but you have got to believe me when I say it’s delicious.

So when I was going through the recipe and read that it includes rum I was a bit hesitant. I do not like liqueur in my food and rum is not my favorite kind of drink at all.

Especially when it’s in a recipe where there is no cooking involved so the alcohol cannot evaporate. But I followed the recipe anyway and I have to say; I was pleasantly surprised. There is only two tablespoons of rum in it anyway and far far away you do taste it but it’s certainly not an overpowering alcohol taste. Very subtle and very delicious actually.

Ofcourse I didn’t have it chilled properly as yet, so I only ate the little bit leftover. It’s supposed to be for 6 glasses but I guess my glasses are slightly bigger so I had 5 glasses and then a little bit. So I chilled the little bit as well and then decided I should taste it… As I said; simply delicious…

Italian chocolate mousse

170 gr of dark chocolate

4 eggs

150 ml whipping cream (very cold)

4 tablespoons of dark espresso

2 tablespoons of rum

2 teaspoons of sugar

1. Make a double boiler and bring the water to a soft simmer. Put the chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and leave to melt. Put a mixing bowl in the freezer.

2. Split the eggs and whip the eggyolk with the sugar till it becomes light and creamy. Add the melted chocolate, rum and espresso.

3. Put the cream in the bowl that came out of the freezer and whip untill it becomes stiff. Add the cream to the chocolate mixture and combine with a spatula untill it becomes one liquid.

4. Mix the eggwhites untill it becomes stiff and forms peak and add that to the chocolate mixture as well.

5. Put into 6 glasses and put in the fridge overnight.

Showing the structure of the mousse... mmm

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As I mentioned yesterday already I joined the Cooking Italy group that Angela from Spinach Tiger started. It’s great fun and each month she picks four recipes that we cook out of the book ‘The essentials of Italian Classic Cooking” from Marcella Hazan. I’ve been reading in the book and have already learned quite a bit about the Italian cuisine without even cooking much more then the bolognese sauce!

When I first read that I had to cook this sauce for something like more then 3 hours, I was thinking ‘ What???!!! Why???!!!’ but having now actually tasted the full and rich flavors of this dish, I can see why…

I am not convinced I used the correct ground beef. The recipes calls for ground beef chuck, but I have honestly no idea what that is. The chuck part that is and we don’t have a good butcher around here either, so that could pose a bit of a problem for some of the later recipes. But I’ll manage to find a good meat source at some point, I hope.

Ingredients

The recipe itself is really not very hard to make, it just involves a lot of waiting time for fluids to evaporate, add something else, wait for it to evaporate again and repeat. It was a first for me to cook ground beef in milk, but according to Marcella this is to prevent the acidic taste of the tomatoes to get the upper hand. And it worked; I think I can honestly say that this is one of the best bolognese sauces I have tasted so far.

But then, ok, I have to admit it… I have had mostly jar bolognese sauces up till now (sorry Angela! I just read your post about the bolognese sauce so I understand now that using bolognese sauce is really a crime…:) I didn’t know any better!!)

Officially we should have made homemade pasta as well, but I haven’t gotten around to buying the equipment for that yet, so I bought fresh pasta in the store. Tagliatelle.

I also learned that bolognese in Bologna is just never served with spaghetti! I mean, honestly? Isn’t spaghetti bolognese almost famous around these parts? So, as I said; I did learn lots of things today!

The dish was really well received by Tom as well, who loved it. I can see this sauce being made over and over again, as you can vary with this to your hearts content. I will try and get proper beef for next time I make this, but all in all, it was really good and yummy.

BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE

(serves 6)

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

45 gr butter

85 gr onion, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

4 medium carrots, chopped

350 gr of ground beef chuck (not too lean)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

250 ml full-fat milk

whole nutmeg

250 ml of dry white wine

500 gr of tinned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice

550-675 gr pasta

freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese to serve

1. Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot, turn the heat to medium and saute the onion until it becomes translucent. Add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

2. Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the beef with a fork, stir well and cook until it has lost its raw red colour.

3. Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating – about 1/8 teaspoon – of nutmeg and stir.

4. Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all the ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding 125 ml water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

5. Toss with cooked, drained pasta and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.

I am looking forward to trying the next recipe!!

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