4.11.2011

Cajun Clams

One food Amy missed while living in New Orleans is clams. While NOLA was an amazing place for seafood, they didn't serve clams. Oysters? Sure. Shrimp? Tons of 'em. Crawfish? Catfish? Crab? Check, check and check. But clams? Nowhere to be found. Back in Connecticut, however, clams are common and we're glad for that. Last week, we bought some steamers and littlenecks and made them, Cajun style.

Our NOLA-fied inspiration was two gorgeous links of andouille sausage Amy's mom bought us from Pekarski's Sausage in South Deerfield, Massachusetts (they don't have a website, but you can read about Pekarski's here). The other ingredients we chose because they enhance the fabulous flavors found in andouille, are typical ingredients in Cajun-style cooking, and/or they add a touch of pretty color to the dish. For our liquid, we used a pale ale, but only because we can't find Abita Turbodog here in New England. If it's not one thing, it's another!

Ingredients:
2 links andouille sausage
1 pound steamer clams
1 pound littleneck clams
1 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1 small yellow bell pepper, roasted, then chopped
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped sweet potato
1 bottle of pale ale
small bunch chives (chopped) for garnish

Brown the sausage over high heat on all sides, then cut it into rounds. Place the sausage and remaining ingredients (except chives) in a large pot and cook, covered, over high heat for 10-15 minutes, until clams open. Garnish with chopped chives and serve with crusty French bread and ice cold beer. 

8 comments:

mindy@whiskibusiness.com said...

Oh MY MY---I'm now drooling! I never would have thought of sweet potato! What a great idea. Nice, very nice!I'm buzzing you! BZZZZZZ!

Susan Lindquist said...

Man! I have been eyeing the clams and mussels of late ... must be summertime blues! This treatment looks awesome! Good work, guys!

Jocie's Mom said...

Cajun anything is a great idea. Personally, I'm not a big fan of clams but I bet those flavours would rock some grouper just as easily. Thanks for sharing!

Kate@Diethood said...

Oh my, that looks delicious! with sweet potato? YUM!!

jck said...

Must agree with others that sweet potatoes a surprise inredient. Sounds really good.
Come on, summer!

Rochelle said...

I miss clams too, as we don't get much other than frozen (bleh) or canned (only good for so many things and not the same) around here. I can't wait till we move to a place where clams are abundant and I will be giving this recipe a try :)

Vicki Wilde said...

I might have to try this recipe this summer! I just moved to the Northeast and hear we have pretty tasty clams. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

These sound delicious! BTW, they do carry Abita TurboDog @ Whole Foods in West Hartford.