White Wine Clams

Cooking with seafood really marks the summer months for me. Seafood dishes tend to be lighter, bursting with freshness and are usually ready pretty quickly. This dish was supposed to be made into a seafood medley served with buttered spaghetti, but, after a day spent at the beach - nibbling at freshly purchased red berries and soaking up the sun - a very light meal was calling my name. The clams were deliciously soothing served with a couple slices of crusty garlic bread to soak up the sauce.

There really is something about the sauce that emanates from cooked clams. When you cook clams this way, they release their wonderfully fragrant flavors into the wine and create the most flavorful stock. If you don't want to use up all cooking liquid, try using some of it in risotto or with any seafood pasta dish. You really can't recreate the depth of flavor that the clams create. They're nothing like it!

White Wine Clams
Serves 4

2 pounds of Manila clams, scrubbed well
1 cup of good quality dry white wine
5 sprigs of thyme
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 handful of coarsely chopped cilantro

Remove the leaves from the thyme stems and coarsely chop. Add the thyme stems, leaves, white wine, garlic and clams to saucepan on medium heat. Cover. Bring the stock to a boil and reduce to a high simmer for about 3-4 minutes.Shack the pan being careful to secure the lid down to make sure the clams open. Place all the opened clams in your serving bowl and discard any closed ones. Discard the thyme stems and simmer the stock for another 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice to the sauce and pour the sauce over the clams. Add the cilantro and serve immediately with some crusty bread. Enjoy!