Clam Toast

Courtesy of Shelley Boris, owner/executive chef of Fresh Company and Dolly’s, Garrison, NY

Many of our customers ask for cooking suggestions for their fish or shellfish, so we decided to collect recipes from the wealth of great chefs, food professionals and home cooks who frequent our shop and share them online. Our thanks to Shelley Boris, owner/executive chef of Fresh Company and Dolly’s in Garrison for contributing the very first recipe for our new blog, XXXXX.

Shelley's recipe for Clam Toast calls for topneck clams which are a size in between littleneck and cherrystone clams. Our littleneck clams, which are almost always available in the shop, work just as well, or place a special order for topnecks or cherrystones.

Clam Toast

Serves 4

Ingredients

Clams:

• 3 dozen top neck clams

• ½ cup dry white wine

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed lightly

• Sunchokes: 1 cup of ½” diced sunchokes, not peeled

• 2 garlic cloves peeled

• 2 sprigs thyme

• ¼ cup EVOO

• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (ground arbol is good)

• ½ teaspoon lemon zest

Clam Sauce:

• ¼ cup EVOO

• 6 cloves garlic, rough chopped

• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped, set aside ¼ cup for garnish

Toast:

• 4 slices hearty whole wheat sourdough bread (I love Signal Fire)

• 1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed

• 4 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Wash the clams and discard any that are even slightly open. Put them in a pot with the white wine, cover, and bring just to a boil over high heat. Pay close attention, the minute the clams pop open, even a crack, take them out of the pot. It will only take a few minutes before they open fully. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. When the clams are cool enough to handle, remove them from the shell, leaving behind both muscles (the tough parts on either side). Leave the clams whole or, if you prefer, cut each clam with scissors or a sharp knife into 3 to 4 pieces and set aside.

2. Over medium low flame cook the sunchokes, thyme & garlic in olive oil until golden brown and tender, drain and toss with red pepper & lemon zest and set aside.

3. Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil and the garlic in a saucepan over medium heat, and sauté until the garlic just begins to color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the parsley and the reserved broth, taking care to leave behind the sand that has settled at the bottom of the bowl. Simmer for another 1 minute, remove from the heat, and add the cut clams.

4. Rub sliced bread with raw garlic, toast as you are preparing order of clams, as soon as bread is crispy outside, still soft inside, spread with butter and place one piece each in shallow bowls, add a quarter of the clam sauce to each bowl, top with the sunchokes, and the extra chopped fresh parsley and serve.