Steamed Clams with Smoked Bacon in White Wine Parsley Sauce

My initial plan was to use chorizo for this clam recipe, but somehow all the imported chorizo were banned in Taiwan. So I guess I won't be seeing imported chorizo for a long while. Good thing that the substitute - thick cut smoked bacon worked really well too.

Steamed clams with smoked bacon in white wine parsley sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 380 to 400 grams clams 
• 100 grams thick-cut smoked bacon
• 1 big bulb shallot
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small bundle flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 yellow lemon
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Some salt
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

How?

First let's "clean" the clams first. Rinse and roughly clean the clam shells. Fill a medium pot with some room temperature water, mine was about 600ml of water with 3 teaspoons of salt added.

Add in the live clams and just let them sit there, don't go peeping too often in the beginning nor moving the pot. These movements might disturb the clams and then will have their shells tightly shut. 

The image I have here was only like 10 minutes into the soaking process. I would suggest wait for one hour, and make sure you do see the clams purged out the sand. It's actually quite fun to watch them doing that. Once all set, drain out the liquid and the clams will be ready to use.

When the clams are about ready, let's prep other ingredients. Slice the bacon to medium size chunks. Peel and chop the shallots and garlics. Separate the stem and leafy part for the parsley, chop the leafy part and section the stems. Slice the lemon into wedges.

Have a stainless pan ready, the reason why I specifically said stainless is that we will be adding in the clams, and the stainless material won't be damaged by the clam shells moving around.

Turn to medium or medium small heat. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and add in the bacon chunks. Sear till some fats have been rendered and the meaty part turns a bit browned.

Add in shallots and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add in chopped garlic, parsley stems, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Toss and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add in the clams and give it a quick mix. Pour in 1/2 cup of dry white wine.

Swirl a little then cover the pan with a lid. Use medium small heat and let it "steam" for about five minutes, or till the clams just opened up.

Remove the lid, pick out parsley stems and discard any clams that are still tightly closed. This time around, add in chopped parsley leaves. Squeeze in some lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon. Give it a quick mix.

Plate and add one or two extra lemon wedges on the side.

Note that I only posted the clam dish here. But there is definitely one other thing you can do to boost up the dining experience. Serve the dish with some toasted baguette. You can enjoy the clams and bacon chunks with the bread, also further soak up all the juice on the plate using the bread.

Nothing goes to waste, especially all that juice was like the essence from the clams, super flavorful and packed with umami. Even if you don't have any bread on hand, at least cook up some pasta or rice, just pour the sauce all over. It might sound weird but once you took a few bites you'll know what I'm talking about.

Other wine-friendly recipes:

• Nectarine and Serrano ham crostini
• Less oil fried cream cheese wontons
• Crostini with Serrano burrata and hot honey

Salted Duck Egg Shrimps 鹹蛋蝦仁

When you see salted egg out there, most likely it's salted "duck" egg. The reason is that duck egg has more fat compared to chicken egg, also less water. In addition, the duck egg shells are tougher with bigger yolk size. All that making duck egg a more ideal candidate to go through the brining process.

Salted duck egg shrimps 鹹蛋蝦仁 -

Ingredients?

• 20 to 24 shrimps
• 2 salted duck egg
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 small chunk ginger
• 1 to 2 red chilies (optional)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• 2 tablespoons sweet potato starch

How?

Peel and devein the shrimps. Use 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine to gently massage and marinate the shrimps. A short marinate time should be enough, just do this step first then move on to prepare other ingredients.

Peel the salted eggs, separate the yolk and the white then chop to smaller pieces.

Destem and chop the scallion, separate the green and the white parts. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the red chilies if using. Scrape then finely chop the ginger.

When it's time for the actual cooking part, use about 2 tablespoons of sweet potato starch to mix in and coat the shrimps. Only do this step last minute. 

Quickly get a pan ready and drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat. Once warmed up, add in the shrimps and sear till colored and about 70% cooked-through. After that, scoop out and set aside for later use.

Still using the same pan, drizzle more oil if needed. Use medium low heat this time. Add in chopped yolk and sear till the consistency becomes more paste-like and a bit bubbling.

Add in all the chopped scallion white and most of the chopped greens along with garlic, red chilies, and about 1/2 teaspoon of chopped ginger. Sear till aromatic. You can adjust to medium heat here.

Add back the shrimps and give it a quick stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add in the egg white and cook for another 30 seconds. Taste and see if additional salt is needed. I didn't add any this time.

Once the seasoning has been checked, drizzle a round of white sesame oil, about 1 teaspoon. Add in all the remaining scallion greens and toss till evenly mixed in. Plate and serve.

Note that I didn't use any extra salt in this recipe. The reason is that "salted" duck egg can be quite salty already. So in general, by using the salted duck egg alone should be enough. However, if you prefer heavier flavor, just add a tiny pinch of salt should do. Just a tiny pinch.  

Other recipes using salted duck egg:

• Steamed pork patty with salted duck egg
• Salted duck egg and salmon fried rice 鹹鴨蛋鮭魚芥蘭炒飯