CLAMS IN DIJON BROTH (tartar sauce version)

Seattle chef Renee Erickson’s 2021 travel-themed cookbook Getaway features a recipe for manila clams cooked in a broth of Dijon mustard and white wine and finished with a sophisticated flourish of crème fraîche. If your local supply chain happens to be short on French dairy products, may we suggest a delicious alternative that you almost certainly can find: tartar sauce.

With the richness of cream and the tang of vinegar, it’s a good tweak to this already excellent recipe. Buy the book here for a taste of the classy original.

Manila clams from the Hood Canal with a glass of wild Nootka rose and fir tip cider.

Cooked at the source: Hama Hama Oyster Company (Lilliwaup, WA): March 10, 2022. Adrienne Anderson

  • Sauté sliced garlic in butter until it’s soft and translucent, then add a mixture of 4 parts white wine (or dry cider) and 1 part dijon mustard and boil off the alcohol for a few minutes.

    Add enough clams for your people (1 pound per person is a good baseline); cover and cook until all the clams open, discarding any that don’t. Remove the clams, stir in a few large spoonfuls of tartar sauce and some freshly ground pepper, and simmer until it’s somewhere between a broth and a sauce. Taste before adding any salt: the clams usually bring enough of their own.

    Serve with bread and a glass of whatever wine or cider you cooked the clams in.

  • To serve 2 (as a lunch) or 4 (as a snack)

    • 4 tablespoons butter

    • 4 cloves garlic, sliced

    • 2 cups white wine or dry cider

    • 1/2 cup dijon mustard

    • 2 pounds manila clams, scrubbed to remove any sand and grit

    • freshly ground black pepper

    • 1/4 cup tartar sauce

    • bread to serve

    1. Heat a large, wide, high-sided pot or pan over medium heat.

    2. Add 4 tablespoons butter and heat until it melts and the foamy bubbles subside.

    3. Add 4 cloves sliced garlic and cook until soft and transulcent.

    4. Stir together 2 cups white wine or dry cider and 1/2 cup dijon mustard.

    5. Add the wine-dijon mixture to the pan and boil to remove the alcohol, about 3 minutes.

    6. Add 2 pounds scrubbed manila clams and cover the pot with a lid or sheet tray.

    7. Cook until all of the clams open, 2-5 minutes, and discard any that don’t.

    8. Remove the clams to a serving bowl, leaving the liquid in the pot.

    9. Add 1/4 cup tartar sauce and continue simmering until the broth thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.

    10. Season generously with freshly ground pepper; taste for salt and add if desired (you probably won’t need it).

    11. Serve with bread to sop up the sauce.

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