Iberia · Volume 10, Bacalhau and the Long Way Home
Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato
The Algarve and Setúbal
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 15 minutes
- Researched
- 2 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Serves 4 as a starter. About 15 minutes, plus purging.
Ingredients
- 1 kg amêijoas, preferably the dark shelled variety, well purged
- 60 g olive oil
- 4 to 6 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 lemon
- 1 large bunch coentros, chopped
- to taste salt and pepper
Method
- Soak the clams in salted water until they release their sand.
- Heat the olive oil in a wide pan with the sliced garlic.
- Add the clams and chopped coriander, season with salt and pepper, and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the clams open.
- Finish with lemon juice and serve immediately, with bread for the liquor.
What a modern chef changes
The same three ingredients, given more control over how evenly the clams open
Kit note, not tied to a numbered rung.
Method
- Sort the clams by size before cooking and add the largest first, the smallest a minute or two later, so all of them open within the same narrow window rather than the smallest overcooking while the largest are still shut.
- Infuse the olive oil with the garlic gently over low heat before it ever meets high heat, avoiding the acrid, burnt garlic note a hot pan risks.
- Reserve and reduce the clam liquor separately, then return it to the pan to finish, concentrating flavour a straight one step cook leaves diluted.