Adventures with Good Things—Recipes and Rituals to Share with People you Love Stewed Clams with Tomatoes and Saffron

Last week I shared that my son and daughter gave me cookbooks for Mother’s Day. In my last blog I shared my adventures with Shaq, the book Leelee gave me. This week I share my adventures with Samin Nosrat, the author of Good Things.

Samin Nosrat is also the author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, awarded the James Beard general cookbook of the year in 2017. Pretty impressive! This book shifted the focus from following rigid recipes to understanding the four foundational elements of flavor. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat became a New York Times best seller and landed Samin a Netflix series. The sudden, constant public attention from this success caused her to fall into a severe depression, and she struggled to find inspiration for her next book.

During the pandemic, Samin started a Monday dinner club, where week after week her friends gathered and shared a simple meal she had prepared. This ritual lifted her out of her depression and served as the inspiration for Good Things: Recipes & Rituals to Share With the People You Love. It is more than a cookbook, it is Saimin’s memoir of healing. Over 400 pages in length, it has 125 only recipes but is a reflection on how ordinary meals can provide comfort and bring people together. Samin commented: “Good Things is a collection of my most beloved and useful recipes and culinary rituals—the mostly simple, always delicious things I cook for myself and the people I love.”

I haven’t yet read Saimin’s book cover to cover, but I am going to. Since I have had my share of traumatic events that have caused me to struggle, I am eager to follow into her journey. So, thank you, Brian, for gifting me not only a cookbook but a memoir of healing.

In perusing her book, I decided to make her stewed clam recipe and am sharing it this week. She uses Calabrian chiles, which I just love, and saffron. I had some saffron left from the beginning of the year when I made bouillabaisse for my husband’s birthday. It was nearing its expiration date, so Stewed Clams with Tomatoes and Saffron was the obvious choice.

It is important to clean clams before cooking them. Her method is different than mine. Her recipe appears verbatim from her book. My method follows. I have included tips on selecting and storing clams if you’ve never used them before.

The sauce is too die for. You will want to have crusty bread to scoop up the delicious sauce! Other than the mess from purging clams, the floor didn’t need scrubbing and the dog didn’t need a bath.

Stewed Clams with Tomatoes and Saffron

Serves 4

One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon Calabrian chile paste or pinch of chile flakes I used 1 teaspoon diced Calabrian

chiles because I like the heat. I don’t have the paste.

¼ teaspoon saffron threads, ground and bloomed (see page 37) I have included her instructions on how to bloom saffron following the recipe.

Kosher salt

3 pounds little neck clams, washed and purged of grit (see Note) Note follows.

1 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley

Crusty bread, for serving

Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and crush them very well by hand.

Set a large wide saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. When it shimmers, add the garlic and chile paste and cook until the garlic is fragrant but hasn’t taken on any color. Add the tomatoes and bloomed saffron. Season with salt and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes reduce a bit and start to become jammy, 10 to 12 minutes.

Add the clams and the wine, increase the heat to high, and cover the pot. Let the clams steam until they open, 3 to 4 minutes. Use tongs to transfer clams to a bowl as they open. Discard any clams that refuse to open after 5 minutes (sometimes a little tap with the tongs will encourage a stubborn one to open). My clams didn’t begin to open until they had been cooking for five minutes. I removed the opened clams and continued letting them steam. My total cooking time for all the clams to open was 10 minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning of the sauce with salt, chile paste, oil, and wine, all while continuing to simmer. When the sauce is just right, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Return the clams to the pot and shower with the parsley.

Serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce, which everyone knows is the best part.

NOTE:

To purge clams before cooking scrub and rinse them well in cold water. In a large bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (33g) of kosher salt into 4 cups very cold water until dissolved. Place the clams in the water and refrigerate. They should start to open slightly and stick their siphons out. After 1 ½ to 2 hours, carefully lift them out of the bowl to leave the sand and grit behind. If the water is very gritty, you may want to repeat with another round of salt water for a couple more hours. Rinse the clams and store on a tray under a damp towel in the refrigerator until ready to use.

GRINDING AND BLOOMING SAFFRON: To get the most out of precious saffron, grind it and then bloom it in hot water before adding it to food. Use a small mortar and pestle to grind saffron threads into a fine powder with a pinch of salt. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiling water and allow the saffron to steep for 10 minutes. Carefully add the bloomed “tea” to your recipe, using a little more hot water to swirl every last drop of saffron out of the mortar.

Tips on selecting clams: Clams are kept on ice in the seafood case and are either sold individually or in mesh bags. If you buy clams in a mesh bag, the bag will bear a “harvest tag,” which indicates the date and location of harvest as well as a “Use-By” date. If you buy individual clams, you can ask the fishmonger to show you the “harvest tag.” Inspect the shells. Discard clams with chipped, smashed, or cracked shells. Clams should never smell fishy but fresh like the ocean. Their shells should be tightly closed. If you find a hard-shell clam with an open shell, tap on it lightly. If it does not react, it is dead and should be discarded. Since soft-shell clams never fully close their shell, their shells will be slightly open. To determine if soft-shell clams are still alive, tap on the shell lightly. If the clam does not react, it is dead and should be discarded.

Tips on storing clams: Remove the clams from the mesh bag so they can breathe. Place them in a bowl, cover them with a damp cloth, and refrigerate them. Although they will keep 2 days in your fridge, it is best to use clams within 24 hours of purchase.

Tips on cleaning clams: Clams can be quite sandy. Because the shells of soft-shell clams do not close completely, it is essential to clean them before cooking. Although some clams are cleaned or purged before you purchase them, I prefer to clean them anyway as I do not want any sand remaining in the recipe I prepare. To clean clams, soak them in salted water for a couple of hours. Add ⅓ cup of kosher or non-iodized sea salt to 1 gallon of water. After placing clams in salted water, sprinkle ½ cup of corn meal over them. The clams will ingest the cornmeal and expel sand. Use a slotted spoon to remove the clams from the water so any sand remains on the bottom of the bowl.

Tips on eating clams: If clams don’t open during the cooking process, they should be discarded.

Carol Ann

 Carol Ann Kates is the award-winning author of cookbook, Secret Recipes from the Corner Market, and international Amazon best-selling and award-winning author of Grocery Shopping Secrets. She’s an expert in how to shop, select, and store produce for maximizing home cooking outcomes and minimizing time and money spent. As a former supermarket and deli operator, Carol Ann shares grocery-insider wisdom—the same expertise you used to receive when patronizing a mom-and-pop establishment. Contact her at CarolAnn@CarolAnnKates.com and explore her website, www.CarolAnnKates.com.

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