CookEat Recipe
Clam Soup with Toasted Bread
Shelled small clams in their strained cooking broth with an olive-oil vegetable soffritto and toasted bread.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: About 1.35 kg live small clams in their shells, cleaned and purged by a reputable supplier; About 2 litres water, adjusted with the clam cooking liquid; 2 garlic cloves; Quarter of an onion; 1 small carrot; 1 celery stalk; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; 4 tablespoons olive oil; Black pepper and salt only if needed; 300 g bread; Optional: about 5 g dried edible mushrooms, soaked and finely chopped; a little plain tomato passata for extra seasoning.
Step 2
Use clams from a reputable retailer with traceable shellfish sourcing, kept cold below 4°C in an open container covered with a damp cloth. Buy them already cleaned and purged; do not use collected seawater or an unverified home purging treatment. Discard cracked shells and any that remain open when tapped. Scrub briefly under cold running water.
Step 3
Put the clams in a large pan with about 500 ml of the measured water. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until they open, then continue boiling for 3–5 minutes, checking that the flesh reaches 74°C. Discard any that do not open. Remove the flesh from the shells and keep it covered.
Step 4
Let the cooking liquid settle briefly, then pour carefully through a very fine sieve lined with a clean filter, leaving all sand behind. Measure the strained liquid and add enough fresh water to make about 2 litres in total.
Step 5
Finely chop the garlic, onion, carrot, celery and parsley. Cook in the olive oil until the soffritto is well softened and begins to colour. If using the optional dried mushrooms, soak them in hot drinking water until soft, rinse away grit, chop finely and add now. Discard gritty soaking sediment.
Step 6
Add the shelled clams, pepper and a small ladle of the strained clam liquid. Cook together briefly, then add the rest of the liquid and simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste before adding salt because the clams supply their own. A little passata, starting with a tablespoon, may be added if more seasoning is wanted.
Step 7
Toast the bread in slices and cut into cubes. Put in a tureen and pour the hot clam soup over it. Serve immediately, without butter or Parmesan. Small clams of another suitable food-grade variety or mussels may replace the telline; clean and cook them with the same shellfish safety checks and discard unopened shells.
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