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.
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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.
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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
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Heat a large, wide, high-sided pot or pan over medium heat.
Add 4 tablespoons butter and heat until it melts and the foamy bubbles subside.
Add 4 cloves sliced garlic and cook until soft and transulcent.
Stir together 2 cups white wine or dry cider and 1/2 cup dijon mustard.
Add the wine-dijon mixture to the pan and boil to remove the alcohol, about 3 minutes.
Add 2 pounds scrubbed manila clams and cover the pot with a lid or sheet tray.
Cook until all of the clams open, 2-5 minutes, and discard any that don’t.
Remove the clams to a serving bowl, leaving the liquid in the pot.
Add 1/4 cup tartar sauce and continue simmering until the broth thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.
Season generously with freshly ground pepper; taste for salt and add if desired (you probably won’t need it).
Serve with bread to sop up the sauce.