Creamy Clams with Spaghetti

Creamy and warming, this is a favourite weeknight meal as it takes 15 minutes to make.

Cooked frozen clams vacuum packed in their shell are so handy for the freezer and defrost in less than half an hour when put (in their bag) in a sink of cold water. Put together with a garlic, parsley and cream sauce served on spaghetti tastes restaurant worthy and is perfect for this (still cold) weather.

In our house, we tend to have mussels about once a fortnight, but recently I have moved onto clams. They are more delicate, low in fat and are naturally high in iron and vitamin B12.

Ingredients:     (serves 2)

500g defrosted clams in shell
1 banana shallot (or 1 small onion)
1 clove garlic, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. dried parsley
glass of white wine
100ml double cream
200g spaghetti

Method:

Boil a large pan of water. When boiling, put in the spaghetti.

While the spaghetti is boiling, chop and fry the shallot and garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil. Add the wine and cook on high for two minutes, lower the heat and add the cream and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the clams to warm through and stir.

When the pasta is al dente, add the creamy clams, stir to combine and serve.

That's it! It really doesn't need anything else. Other than maybe some bread and butter on the side to mop up any creamy remaining sauce. Delicious!

Chimichurri & Ancho Chill Sauce

Over the years, experimenting with food and flavours from around the world...the one thing I have learnt is that its either the spice/herb mix or the sauce that makes a dish. A chicken breast, or a lamb chop will taste the same if it is just cooked. Even if it is perfectly cooked. But when you are abroad and you get that... 'ooh what IS that' moment. That flavour that makes your mouth water and your brain ask you for more. Its the sauce. Its the dip. Or the rub. Today I made two of them.

I was looking at the lamb leg steaks and the aubergine and my mind was trying to drag itself away from the usual. Moroccan tagine...Lebanese style with pitta.. Turkish lamb kebabs.. Greek lamb. I wanted something NEW.

So I decided to metaphorically take a trip to Argentina. Now I don't suppose lamb and aubergines are the first thought for South America but they do a few dishes. I stole their flavours and went with it. I decided to cut the lamb into very thin slivers and put it into a Mexican Mole (mo-lay) sauce. The Mole recipe is on my website (www.julesdinnertable.co.uk). But that's not we are talking about here. Its all about the SAUCES.

The one on the left is Chimichurri. Its like an Argentinian pesto and can be used as a marinade or a dip.

Its simply - 1 cup of fresh coriander, 1 cup of fresh parsley, 2 fat cloves of garlic, 1/3 cup of olive oil, the juice of 1 lime, a pinch of salt and a pinch of chilli flakes. Use a hand blender or if you don't have one - mash the garlic and finely chop the herbs. Blend together to make a chunky paste.

The one on the right is a chilli sauce made from one Ancho chilli (picture of the dried chilli in the photo). Again - a marinade or a dip. You can get these from markets and some supermarkets.

You open out the dried chilli and remove the stem and seeds (you can add seeds later for heat as you like - I did!) Put the chilli in a small pan of water, bring it to the boil and turn off the heat for ten minutes to let the chilli soften. Put into a hand blender. Crush 4 cloves and 4 peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and add to the blender. Add one peeled clove of garlic and 3/4 cup of water. Blend till smooth and pop into a small saucepan with a tablespoon of honey (and some of the seeds if you like the heat). Simmer gently for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam. Put into a bowl and cool.

You'll have a dark red, smokey, delicately rich flavoured chilli sauce you can use with anything! I'm using it to put on the Shredded Lamb Mole in a flour tortilla.

Sadly I am out of avocado - they would be perfect for tonight, but we'll manage. I am serving the lamb in the flavourful mole sauce (think like pulled pork - only not), which we will put in a flour tortilla with some shredded lettuce and sliced red onion. Topped with a teaspoon of each of the sauces will be a flavour explosion! I personally can't wait. Thank you South America - I do love your flavours.