A LENTEN DISH THAT’S GOOD ANYTIME

 

Good combo--clams with beans.

Lent, Cuaresma, when it's customary in Spain to eat fish and shellfish and abstain from meat, is nearly over. Easter (Pascua de Resurección) (and, at my house, roast lamb) is only hours away. But this dish of beans and clams that I cooked on Viernes Santo (Good Friday),  is so good you can serve it any time of the year.

For my Good Friday meal I wanted coquinas, those tiny wedge-shelled clams that have such a delicate flavor. But the market only had small almejas, clams. No problem. You can use any small to medium-sized clams or berberechos, cockles. Cultivated Manila clams are fine. You could use fresh shucked clams, but you would miss the fun of hands-on eating.

Made with fresh clams and jarred beans, the dish is quick to put together.

A topping of breadcrumbs, garlic, and parsley adds crunch.

Clams are hands-on! Serve with bowls for the shells and paper towels for hand-wiping.

Beans with Clams

Alubias con Almejas

Use any sort of cooked white beans—tiny navy beans, fat fabes, cannellini, baby limas. I used a 660-gram (23-ounce) jar of pochas, cooked shelling beans, drained and rinsed. The quantities given make 3 servings or 4 small dishes, but the recipe is easily doubled—two jars of beans, two pounds of clams. (If you’re starting with dried beans, soak them overnight and cook in salted water with aromatics (onion, celery, bay leaf) until beans are tender before proceeding with the recipe.

Serve the beans and clams with bowls for discarding the clam shells and paper towels for hand-wiping. 

Serves 3.

1 pound small to medium clams

½ cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons diced carrot (optional)

2 cloves garlic, 1 chopped, 1 minced

Red pepper flakes

½ tablespoon flour

¼ cup white wine

1 cup fish stock or water

Salt to taste

1 bay leaf

2 ½ cups rinsed and drained cooked beans

¼ cup chopped parsley, divided

2 tablespoons crushed croutons

Open clams and save broth.

Soak the clams in salt water for 1 hour so they disgorge sand. Carefully lift them out of the water and place them in a deep pan with ½ cup of water. Place on high heat, covered, until the clam shells open. Remove the pan from the heat and scoop out clams with a slotted spoon. Discard any that do not open. Pour the clam broth through a fine sieve over the clams and reserve them.

Wipe out the pan. Heat the oil in the pan and poach the onion, carrot, and 1 clove of chopped garlic on medium, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Regulate the heat so that the onion does not brown. Add the red pepper flakes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook 1 minute. Stir in the stock, salt, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and add the beans. Do not stir, but gently swirl or shake the pan to mix the beans with the stock. Cook 10 minutes. 

While beans are simmering, combine 2 tablespoons of the chopped parsley with the crouton crumbs and minced garlic. 

Add the clams and their broth to the beans. Swirl to combine beans and clams. Cook on medium-low until thoroughly heated. Immediately before serving sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley. 

Serve the clams and beans accompanied by the parsley-garlic-crumb topping. 

More recipes with legumes and shellfish:

Chickpeas with Shrimp and Seafood Sausage.

Asturian Clams and Beans (Fabada).

Octopus with Chickpeas and Chorizo.

Cuttlefish and Chickpea Stew.

CLAM SOUP THAT’S NOT CHOWDER

 

Small clams plus garlic flavor a simple soup made creamy with olive oil and crushed pine nuts. 

I swore, no more cookbooks. But, when a book featuring recipes from every pueblo in the province of Málaga appeared, I could not resist. Entre Berza y Pringá, las Recetas de Málaga Pueblo a Pueblo, by Ana Abellán Ciudad (ColandCol Ediciones; 2023), has recipes for 103 dishes “that speak to us of a culture of sustenance” and tell the story of a region, both rich and poor, that extends from beaches to mountains.  (The author blogs about the food of Málaga province here .)

Of course, I turned immediately to the pages dedicated to my own village, Mijas, a whitewashed hillside pueblo overlooking the Mediterranean sea. The entry I found was for Sopa de Limón con Almejas—Lemon Soup with Clams. 

Here’s a rough translation of Ana Abellán’s recipe: Cook clams in water or fish stock with olive oil, garlic, parsley and saffron. Once the clams open, add the juice of a couple of lemons and salt to taste. Place strips of day-old bread in soup bowls and ladle the soup over them. Allow the bread to soak up some of the soup. Ya está—that’s it. 

The soup is a good example of the traditional kitchen—local ingredients such as clams that can be gathered for free or purchased for little money, combined with the basics of oil and garlic, given substance with bread. The soup varies with the region. Another version from my own village (from the book Gastronomía Tradicional Mijeña by Remedios Valenzuela) calls for potatoes instead of bread. In Galicia, famous for its shellfish, clam soup usually contains fideos, thin noodles. In Las Marismas, the marshlands at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, pine nuts gathered in the region as well as bread go into the soup. 

The following recipe is a slightly refined version of that soup, which might have been prepared by hunters camping out, who could gather pine nuts and clams, but who probably didn't have a lemon at hand. 

A good fish stock (there’s a recipe here ) enhances the soup, but is not essential as the clams make their own broth. The clams can be shelled or not before incorporating in the soup. Unshelled, they make a satisfying clacking noise when ladled into bowls. If serving them unshucked, provide bowls at the table for the shells. For a more substantial soup, instead of beating the eggs into the soup, poach one egg per person and place the poached egg on top of the toasted bread in the bowl before ladling the soup over it.

Toasted bread soaks up the flavorful clam broth.

Pine nuts both thicken the soup and, added as garnish, provide a texture contrast.

The soup is as creamy as chowder, but dairy-free.

Mediterranean pine nuts.

Where pine nuts come from: These are the nuts (actually, seeds) of the Mediterranean stone pine (Pinus pinea). I have a trio of pine trees growing alongside my patio. However, the nuts are fiendish to, first, prise out of the pine cones, then crack and extract the kernels, which must be skinned. It’s easier to buy them! However, the ones at the market are usually imported Chinese pine nuts. 

Clam Soup with Pine Nuts 

Sopa de Almejas con Piñones

Carril clams from Galicia.

Serves 4.

1 pound small clams

Salt

Water

¼ cup olive oil + additional for the toasts

½ cup pine nuts 

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons dry Sherry (optional)

4 cups fish stock or water

2 eggs, beaten

Sliced bread, toasted

Lemon wedges, to serve

Fill a bowl with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Stir to dissolve. Rinse the clams and place them in the bowl for 1 hour to disgorge any sand in their shells. Drain and rinse the clams again. 

Place the clams in a pan with ½ cup of water. Place the pan on high heat, cover the pan and cook until clam shells open, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Shake or stir the clams if some haven’t opened. Remove clams with a slotted spoon and reserve them. If desired, some or all of the clams can be shelled. Strain the remaining clam broth through a fine sieve and reserve it.

Fried pine nuts and garlics.

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the pine nuts and garlics. Fry them, stirring constantly, until they are golden. Remove the pan from the heat and tip it so that the oil flows to one side. Skim out the pine nuts and garlics. Save a few pine nuts to garnish the soup. Place the remainder with the garlics in a mortar or mini-food processor with 1 tablespoon of coarsely chopped parsley. Grind or process to make a paste. 

Stir the flour into the oil remaining in the pan. Stir in the pine nut and garlic mixture. Cook on medium heat while stirring. Add the reserved clam broth, the Sherry, if using, and the fish stock. Keep stirring as the soup thickens slightly. Cook 10 minutes.

Place the beaten eggs in a blender container. With the blender running, slowly add one or two cups of the hot soup to the eggs. Blend until smooth. Whisk the egg mixture back into the soup. Return the clams to the soup and heat gently. Do not boil the soup after adding the eggs, or it might “break.”

Drizzle the toasted bread with olive oil and place a slice in the bottom of each shallow soup bowl. Ladle the soup over the bread. Sprinkle with reserved fried pine nuts and finely chopped parsley. Accompany the soup with lemon wedges.

More recipes with clams:

Grilled Razor-Shell Clams.

Clams Marinera.

Asturian Clams with Beans.

Rice with Clams.

Clams with Butter Beans.

Fish with Shrimp and Clams.

Wedge-Shell Clams.

Artichokes with Shrimp and Clams.

CAN´T PASS UP THE FISH VENDOR

 

A find at the fish market--razor shell clams. In Spanish, they are navajas, or "pen knives."

I already had a fat chicken in my market basket, but could not pass by the fish stall without stopping to check out the day’s selection. It’s been more than a year—coinciding with, but not due to, the pandemic—that the village market has been without a fish vendor. I am thrilled to once again have fresh fish and shellfish available locally, so I invariably buy something.

On this day I found razor clams, a shellfish I’ve enjoyed at restaurants specializing in mariscos, shellfish, but never cooked myself. Prepared simply grilled on a plancha and topped with garlic-parsley aliño, they were a quick appetizer while the chicken roasted. The leftover clams and sauce made an instant pasta sauce the following day.

Razor clam shells don't close tightly, so they usually hold sand and grit. Soak them before cooking.

The clams need only one or two minutes to cook on a plancha. Any longer and the delicate flesh becomes tough. In Spain, clams such as these are often served para picar, as a shared plate before a meal.

Quick sauce--garlic, parsley and olive oil in a mini-processor.

Go ahead, pick it up with your fingers and slurp the clam right off the shell. 

My grandson said the clams were like "eating worms." He seemed to enjoy them.

Leftover clams? Cut them up and add them with their sauce to cooked pasta.

Plancha-Grilled Razor Shell Clams with Garlic-Parsley Sauce

Navajas a la Plancha con Aliño

Razor shell clams do not close up tightly. If they’re alive, protruding bits should retract when prodded. Discard any clams whose shells are open and especially heavy ones, as they may be filled with grit.

Two notes of advice: one, be sure to allow the clams to soak in salt water to cleanse them of sand and silt, and, two, do not cook them longer than one or two minutes or they become tough and chewy. 

Use a plancha—a griddle or flat grill pan—or cast-iron skillet to cook the clams.

2 dozen razor clams

Salt

½ cup coarsely chopped parsley

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil + more for the griddle

1 teaspoon coarse salt

½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Wash the clams in running water. Place them in a bowl and add water to cover. Add ½ teaspoon table salt. Let the clams set at least 2 hours. Lift them out of the water and rinse again. Discard any that are open. Drain and pat them dry.

Sauce in mini-processor.

Use a mini-processor to grind the parsley and garlic. Add the oil, ½ teaspoon coarse salt, zest and red pepper flakes, if using. Process to make a smooth sauce.

Heat a plancha or cast-iron skillet and brush it with oil. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon coarse salt and place the razor clams on the griddle in a single layer. Grill 1 minute or until the shells open. Remove the clams from the heat. Place them on a serving platter and spoon some of the parsley-garlic sauce over them. Serve accompanied by bread and remaining sauce.

Leftovers:

Remove clams from their shells. Discard the shells. Use kitchen scissors to cut the clams into pieces. Combine with leftover garlic-parsley sauce in a bowl. Cook linguine or other pasta to taste. Ladle some of the boiling pasta water over the clams and sauce. Drain the pasta and serve tossed with the clams and sauce.

More recipes with clams:

Fishermen-Style Clams (Marinera).

Rice with Clams.

Clams with Butter Beans and Saffron.

FOOD & WINE’S “FAST”

Last week, while sizzling those lamb chops with whole cloves of new garlic, I recalled that the recipe, from my book Cooking From the Heart of Spain—Food of La Mancha, also appeared in Food & Wine magazine’s special Spain issue (February 2005). I contributed eight recipes to the regular section, “Fast.” (The section disappeared a few years back, replaced by “fast” dots in F&W’s Recipe Index.)

Most of my fast recipes were authentically quick to prepare; others were adapted to use prepared foods (i.e., canned beans) to replace long-cooked ones. All were loaded with Spanish flavor: Chicken Breasts with Anisette, Seafood Chowder with Sherry and Serrano Ham, Bean and Chorizo Salad with Olives (the complete list and links to the recipes are below).

Butter beans and clams flavored with sunny saffron.

One of them, Clams with Butter Beans and Saffron, is what’s for dinner today. The F&W recipe calls for shucked littleneck clams. I don’t get fresh shucked clams in my local markets in Spain, so I used fresh Manila clams (also known as Japanese littleneck clams, they are a product of aquaculture). Steaming and shelling them added to the 30 minutes of preparation time. I did that the day before cooking the dish.

To prep the clams: Soak 3 ¼ pounds fresh Manila or littleneck clams in lightly salted cold water for 1 hour to disgorge any sand. Drain and rinse them in running water. Place the clams in a deep pan and add 2 bay leaves and ½ cup water. Bring the clams to a boil, covered. Shake the pan to move the clams around, just until the shells begin to pop open. Use a skimmer to skim the clams out as they open. Strain and save 1 cup of the broth, discarding the bay leaves. When the clams are cool enough to handle, remove the meats from the shells and discard the shells. Makes approximately 1 cup of clam meats. Clams can be cooked and shelled a day before cooking the recipe. Refrigerate the clam meats and the reserved broth.

Shucked.

More of a stew than a soup, but light enough for summer.

Clam Meats and bits of ham contribute all the salt needed to flavor the beans.

Clams with Butter Beans and Saffron
Almejas con Alubias y Azafrán

Don’t add salt to the beans, as the clams and their broth are quite salty.

Serves 4.

3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 ounces chopped serrano ham (½ cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fine dry bread crumbs
2 15-ounce cans butter beans (not drained)
1 bay leaf
Pinch of thyme
Large pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoons hot water
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup clam meats
1 cup clam broth
Chopped parsley to garnish

In a cazuela or deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook over moderately high heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the ham and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the bread crumbs, then add the beans and their liquid along with the bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil.

A sofrito of onions, garlic and serrano ham plus saffron flavors canned butter beans.

In a small bowl, crush the saffron threads into the hot water. Add to the beans and season with pepper. Simmer the beans over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the clams and the clam broth and cook on medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

FAST recipes that appeared in Food & Wine magazine:

Bean and Chorizo Salad with Olives.

Cod with Basque Wine Sauce.

Lamb Chops Sizzled with Garlic.

Spiced Chicken Breasts with Anisette.

Seafood Chowder with Sherry and Serrano Ham.

Chard Sauté.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew.

More FAST recipes:

https://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2016/07/flash-in-pan.html

https://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2016/08/fast-food-for-summer-menu-2.html

https://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2016/08/fast-food-for-summer-menu-3.html

More recipes with clams:

https://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/playing-clam-roulette.html

PLAYING CLAM ROULETTE

Clams, almejas.

 So many kinds of clams. How to choose? Spin the wheel and see what comes up. I lucked out with coquinas. Tomorrow it’s cockles, then those big shiny ones. Luck of the draw—no razor shell clams today.

Five kinds of clams at today's market--clockwise from the left: Manila clams, often cultivated; big conchas finas, or smooth Venus shells; coquinas or wedge-shells; chirlas, a small Venus clam, very common in Andalusia; and berberechos, cockles, rounded and deeply ridged.

The biggest clams pictured are conchas finas, smooth Venus shells. They have glossy, mahogany-colored shells. Conchas finas figured in my early adventures at the village fish market, when I, a midwesterner bewildered by the variety of seafood, was still learning what was what. A lady fish vendor reached out and took my arm. “Señora, mire, las conchas buenas, finas.”  “Look at these fine clams!” I looked. Beautiful glossy shells. As I watched, feeling them, turning them over, the things began to move. Shells opened slowly, just a peek and a pink tongue oozed out.

I jerked my hand away, squealing, “But, they’re alive!” Well, of course they’re alive, she assured me. She smacked her lips to indicate how delicious. She didn’t say anything about slitting their necks, so I bought a few dozen.

At home I rinsed them off and left them by the sink while my guests and I sipped chilled white wine. We heard little clacking sounds, then, clank, clackety, clack. I ran to look and the lot of them had thrown themselves off the counter and were humping it across the kitchen floor. Back to the sea! Back to the sea! We’re outta here!

I gathered them up, put the water on to heat and threw them in. A few clacks and all was still. Shells opened silently.

Concha fina, opened raw.

They were not good. They were tough and rubbery, those big Venus-shell clams. I later took instruction at a tapa bar. These clams must be pried open and served raw on the half-shell with, perhaps, just a squeeze of lemon. You know they’re fresh when the drop of lemon causes them to shudder, just before you pop them into the mouth.

Buy live clams. How do you know they’re alive? The shells are tightly closed. Discard any that don’t close when tapped. Wash clams well in running water. Even “farmed” clams are likely to be sandy. Put them in a bowl of salt water to soak and disgorge sand, a few hours on the table. Lift them out of the water, rinse again and they’re ready to cook.

If you need to keep the clams, wrap them in a bowl covered with a wet towel and refrigerate. Don’t store clams in plastic bags. Better yet, steam them open immediately, and refrigerate, covered, with the strained broth poured over them.

Clams, Fishermen’s Style
Almejas a la Marinera

Almejas a la marinera--clams, fishermen's style, with garlic, wine, parsley.

This clam dish is a tapa bar favorite. While tapas are usually served individually, this one is perfect as a shared plate. Everybody helps himself from the communal platter and dunks pieces of bread into the delicious, garlicky juice. Use littlenecks, Manila clams, tiny coquinas, wedge-shells. Not everybody adds flour to this dish. The flour thickens the liquid, so you can make lots of the sauce. Be sure to serve with lots of bread for sopping it up!

Makes 8 tapas or 3-4 starters.

Same recipe, with coquinas.

2 pounds clams
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup dry white wine or dry Sherry
½ cup water
Red pepper flakes (optional)
½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika), optional
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Wash the clams in running water. Discard any shells that are opened or cracked.

In a deep skillet heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic until onion is softened. Stir in the flour, then add the clams. On a high heat, add the wine, water, pepper flakes and pimentón, if using, and bay leaf. Cover the skillet and shake the pan until the clam shells open. This takes 3 to 10 minutes, depending on the type of clam.

Remove from heat when most of the shells have opened. Discard any that do not open. Pour the clams into a serving dish and top with chopped parsley. Serve with chunks of bread.

These are razor clams, called navajas--pen knives--in Spanish. They can be prepared as in the above recipe for almejas a la marinera, or opened on a plancha or even on a charcoal grill, then drizzled with best olive oil, chopped garlic and parsley.

 Clams  with Beans
Almejas con Faves

Clams and beans, a spin on Asturian fabada.

This is a version of Asturian fabada, typically made with faves, extra-large kidney beans. Rather than slow-cook the beans, I have used a jar of small white lima beans. The clams are steamed open, then added to the beans, with or without shells. Personally, I love the look of clam shells in the bowl and I don’t mind getting fingers messy to fish them out. Clams and clam liquid are quite salty, so taste the beans before adding additional salt.

Serves 4 as a starter.

1 pound Manila or littleneck clams
½ cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
Pinch of saffron or pimentón
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 ounce sausage, such as chistorra or chorizo, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped onion
20-ounce can or jar of white beans
1 bay leaf
Sprig of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste


Scrub the clams and put them in a pan with the water. Cover and steam them open over a high heat, shaking the pan until the clam shells open. Remove from heat. Strain the liquid and reserve it. If preferred, shell the clams, discarding the shells.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet. Add the garlic and breadcrumbs and sauté until crumbs are golden. Add the saffron or pimentón. Remove from heat and add the chopped parsley. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a cazuela or pan. Add the sausage and onion and fry for a few minutes. Add the beans, along with their liquid and ½ cup of liquid from the clams.  Add the bay leaf, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the beans 10 minutes.

Immediately before serving, stir in the reserved breadcrumb-parsley mixture.

Arroz con Almejas
Rice with Clams

A simplified paella--savory rice cooks with clams and vegetables.

 Some paellas are truly baroque extravaganzas, with a sumptuous assortment of everthing from sea, land and sky. Others, such as this dish of rice with clams, show an almost Zen-like simplicity.  “Un arroz”—“a rice”—is the name for such a rice dish. Often, 'un arroz' is any rice dish cooked by a housewife in the kitchen, whereas, 'una paella' is a grand event, cooked outdoors by guys. 'Un arroz' may be served as primer plato—first course—and followed by a meat, chicken or fish dish. It can be seco, dry, like paella; meloso, creamy-juicy, somewhat like risotto, or caldoso, soupy.

I used berberechos, cockles, in this rice dish. They are cooked with the rice, providing a lot of flavor, so it’s not necessary to make a stock.  Use medium grain round rice for this dish (arborio is a substitute for authentic Valencian paella rice). If saffron is not available, substitute pimentón (sweet paprika, not smoked). A simple rice like this can be served with a dollop of alioli, garlic-oil or garlic mayonnaise.

Serves 6 as a starter.

Cockles flavor the rice.

1 pound cockles or other medium-sized clam
¼ teaspoon saffron
¼ cup boiling water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup cut-up asparagus
1 cup rice
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups hot water
1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed
Alioli to serve, if desired


Wash the cockles or clams and leave them in a bowl of salt water to rid them of sand.

Crush the saffron and place it in a small bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Allow to steep for at least 10 minutes.

Heat the oil in a small (12-inch) paella pan or skillet. Sauté the green pepper, onions and garlic until softened. Add the tomatoes and asparagus and cook 4 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it cook with the sofrito for a few minutes. Add the salt, saffron water and hot water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat somewhat and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add the drained clams to the rice, stirring to distribute them evenly. Continue cooking until rice is nearly done al dente, about 8 minutes more. Sprinkle the peas on top. Remove the rice from the heat and allow to settle 5 minutes before serving. 

This rice dish makes a good starter.

OFF TO SEE THE RUINS

Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia.

While my friend Donna from New York was visiting last week, we made an excursion to see the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia. Situated right on the wind-swept beach of Bolonia, near Tarifa in the Straits of Gibraltar—the southernmost tip of Europe—the ruins are of a fairly substantial town that thrived from the 2nd century BC until 2nd century AD.

Vats where garum was produced.

Temples, market, forum, amphitheater make up excavated ruins. And, beside the sea, are pits where garum, the salsa of the ancients, was produced. Garum, made of tuna guts fermented, brined and seasoned, was the earliest manufactured food produced in Spain and shipped back to Rome.

If in Roman times this was a thriving commercial port, nowadays it is a quiet beach where cattle mosey almost to the water’s edge and kite surfers crisscross the sky. North Africa looms in the haze over the sea (this is the Atlantic).

Beach and dunes at Bolonia.

I love landscapes, seascapes and Roman ruins, but what I really like about excursions is lunch. Just beyond the archeological enclosure are several chringuitos, beach-shack restaurants. Ensconced on a terrace out of the wind, we ordered a lunch of fresh seafood.

Coquinas, small wedge-shelled clams, cooked with garlic and wine, para picar, to share while our fish cooked, then a whole grilled fish for each of us.

Coquinas are tiny wedge-shell clams.

We chose borriquete, identified in Alan Davidson’s book, The Tio Pepe Guide to the Seafood of Spain and Portugal (Santana Books, 2002) as “rubber-lip grunt,” a type of bream, because it looked marvelously fresh. The waiter told us it is fished right off this coast, whereas the sea bass come from a piscifactoria, or fish farm.

The fish (priced by weight—and these were big ones!) were simply grilled on a plancha, a flat griddle. No sauce was served with it (some garum, perhaps?), but roasted red peppers and patatas fritas came alongside. We devoured every morsel. The flesh was sweet and moist, the skin crackly.

Borriquete--a type of bream--grilled to perfection.

Coquinas a la Marinera
Fishermen-Style Clams

In Andalusia, tiny clams such as the wedge-shells in the photo are prepared this way, with garlic, parsley and wine. But you can use slightly larger Manila clams too. This is usually served as a plate for sharing. Place the pan in the middle of the table and accompany with chunks of bread for sopping up the sauce.

Serves 3 to 4 as a shared starter.

2 pounds clams
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
piece of chili (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Wash the clams in running water. Discard any shells which are opened or cracked.

In a cazuela or deep skillet heat the oil and sauté the garlic 1 minute. Stir in the flour, then add the clams. On a high heat, add the wine, water and chili. Cover and shake the pan until the clam shells open. This takes 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove from heat when most of the shells have opened. Top with chopped parsley. Serve immediately with bread.

Roasted peppers served with grilled fish.