These are weekend clams. They are fun clams. They are clams for you and a fan or a friend or a lover or a foe. Celebratory food.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
INGREDIENTS
250g cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
200g bacon, very finely sliced
heart of 1 celery, very finely sliced (or about 3 regular stalks)
2 spring onions, very finely sliced
1 bird's eye chilli, very finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, very finely sliced, plus 1 extra clove, halved, for rubbing the toast
1 tbsp tom yum paste (from a jar)
juice of 1 lime
270ml can coconut milk
1kg little neck clams
2 thick slices sourdough, plus 2 more for scooping if you want
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200C. Toss the cherry tomatoes in a little oil and salt on a tray and roast for about 20 minutes, just so they get nice and charry and reduce all their lovely MSG liquid. Set aside.
In a large frying pan with a lid, saute the bacon for about 5 minutes, until crispy. Add the celery and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the spring onion, garlic and chilli for a final moment.
Add the tom yum paste and lime juice so it becomes lovely and jammy and rich. Pour in the coconut milk, then add the clams. Pop the lid on and allow them to simmer until the clams open.
Meanwhile, oil the bread and pan fry it, using a fish weight (or something heavy) to press it down. Mine got quite charry on one side, but it was delicious with the clams. You can also do the bread on the barbecue, or just nice and strongly toasted in the toaster is fine, or cheat and do it over your gas hob flame with a cake rack over the flame. You want a few little charry black bits, so don't shy away if it's going a little bit darker.
Lift the lid and scoop the roasted tomatoes into the clams so the juices all fall around. Season with salt and pepper.
Rub each piece of toast with the cut garlic, place it in the bottom of the bowl and scoop the heavenly, spicy, aromatic clams all over the top. Dig in and pick away, then finish with the most perfect, soggy, toasted, charry, chewy slice of sourdough.
HINTS
You could substitute mussels or pippies.
Bulk it out and do a whole lot more - put a paella pan over a barbecue and just get people to eat out of the pan with a cut baguette beside it.
You could also very easily toss these with some rice noodles for an ultimately slurpy dish.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, including 4 slices of sourdough - guide only):
Energy: approx. 2,250 kcal (9,400 kJ)
Protein: approx. 90g
Fat: approx. 145g
Carbohydrate: approx. 140g
Sodium: approx. 5,500mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.