Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [40]
Like oyster shells, clam shells need to be settled firmly on a supporting base if they are not to wobble about during cooking. Tin pans with a thick layer of sea salt are one solution: the clams can be pressed down into the salt. I prefer large ‘platters’ of bread, in which holes have been made with a small scone cutter; the shells rest in the holes, and any juice which bubbles over is sopped up – to your ultimate benefit – by the bread. Having settled this point, open the clams, and pour off their liquor into a jug.
To make the stuffing, chop the mushrooms finely and crumble the bacon. Mix them together with the parsley and strained clam liquor. Stir in enough breadcrumbs to make a normal stuffing consistency – spreadable, but not sloppy. Season to taste. Divide this mixture between the shells, to cover the clams. Dot with butter and bake in a moderate oven (gas 4, 180 °C/350 °F) for about 12 minutes; until they are nicely browned and bubbling.
CLAM FRITTERS
Although soft shell clams are recommended for this recipe from The American Heritage Cookbook hard clams can be used instead. So can mussels.
By my estimate, 3–3½ kg (6–7 lb) of clams in the shell should produce the required amount, or 4 kg (8 lb) of mussels.
Serves 6
375 g (12 oz) clams, drained
2 eggs, separated
80 g (2¾ oz) white breadcrumbs, toasted
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ dessertspoon chopped parsley
½ dessertspoon chopped chives
generous 60 ml (2 fl oz) milk
butter or vegetable oil
Chop the drained clams finely. Beat the egg yolks, then mix in the clams, breadcrumbs, seasoning and herbs. Add enough milk to make a heavy batter. Beat the egg whites stiffly. Fold them into the mixture just before you intend to cook it. Heat the butter or oil in a frying pan. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into it and cook in the usual way.
Although the recipe doesn’t say so, lemon quarters are a good garnish: their juice cuts the richness of the fritters.
CLAMS MORNAY
You will need a prepared base for the clam shells, see p. 81. Alternatively, you can discard the shells, and divide the sauce and clams, on the same principle, between six little pots.
Serves 6
48 clams
butter
175 ml (6 fl oz) dry white wine
Mornay sauce*
125–175 g (4–6 oz) grated Gruyère cheese
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Open, remove and drain the clams, retaining the liquor. Fry the clams for 2 minutes only in just enough butter to cover the base of the pan. Pour in wine and simmer for 4 or 5 minutes – don’t overcook. Drain the clams carefully and set aside; add the reserved clam liquor to the cooking liquor, and reduce until you have a strongly concentrated essence. Add this gradually to the Mornay sauce, stopping before it becomes too salty.
Put some of the sauce into the shells, lay the clams on top and then cover with some more sauce. Mix the grated Gruyère and breadcrumbs, and sprinkle over the top. Brown lightly in the oven, or under the grill – the latter is simpler, and more easily controlled. Serve immediately.
This is a good recipe, too, for scallops – 18 should be enough for 6 people.
COLCHESTER CLAMS WITH SAMPHIRE
The biggest indictment of our catering trade is fish – or rather the lack of it. You can spend a thousand days at the seaside without being able to sit down in a café to a platter of seafood – lobster, crab, mussels, oysters, shrimps, prawns, whelks, winkles – served on ice with a bowl of proper mayonnaise. In seaside hotels, the one item of fish on the menu will be frozen or dull or overcooked, most likely all three. We need the influence of the new cooking from France, with its insistence on fish. Thank heavens that it begins to show – though this is often indignantly denied – in our best restaurants, the brave hundred (according to one food guider) that care about ingredients.
In fact, I think that the best turbot I have ever eaten was in Norfolk when Melanie de Blank had her hotel in Shipdham. Many of her ingredients came from her husband’s London shops, but the fish was splendidly