What's Cooking

Recipes & Stories

MUSSELS & CLAMS IN WHITE WINE LEMON SAUCE W/ FENNEL

By

clams6 (1 of 1)

In the kitchen, the stories burn hotter than the stove. This is what I’ve come to realize from reading a little more about Frida Kahlo. I went to the house that she shared with Diego Rivera and visited her kitchen. I learned so many of the stories that burned in there. The kitchen is colorful and warm with beautiful pre-Columbian dishes lining the counters and the wooden table. I even copied down the recipe for mole written on wall to the entrance of her kitchen. And thanks to a few comments from last week, I got a few really good books out of the library for this week’s trip back to Mexico City.  What a great way to enrich the experience of just being here.

This recipe doesn’t come from that though. These clams and mussels come as a bubbling recreation of home after being transient. They come from the need to rebuild your table as it patiently awaits your return, both physically and emotionally. This meal is a calling to arms of all the pieces of myself that I’ve scattered with the people I’ve met in the city I’ve left.  The call is to strengthen and bolster the largest chunk, which I serve forth to those who live with me daily. The ones who make me whole. The ones who find their home in me and who make me strong by being my home in return. How better to feel home than to lure the senses with sea water and wine.

clams5 (1 of 1)

Mussels and clams remind me of the ocean and the vastness of the world. The combination reminds me of my time spent stuffing clams and cleaning shrimp as a teenager after school as a fish monger. They also remind me of watching the men dig for clams in New England in one of my favorite author’s (John Updike) hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts. There is just a feeling of home about it all. The wine (a splash for the pot, a splash for me) adds a sophisticated touch and pairs perfectly with the fennel and bright lemon. Very few ingredients go into simmering something so perfect. It’s the simple pleasures and quiet moments that are just as important as the groundbreaking ones. You can’t have one without the other. And you can’t help but feel connected to your world and the people with whom you share it when you’re eating a giant pot of warmth from the ocean. If you serve this with crusty bread, homemade pasta and roasted squash it will be just the welcome home you need to fortify you for burying yourself in your own space like a clam and in doing so feeling like you’ve opened yourself to possibilities as broad and vast as the ocean.

I hope you’re all doing well. Spring is right around the corner in these parts and it’s a lovely reprieve. It has me imagining the beach and one of my favorite days in a long, long time eating this under the ocean breeze. I cannot wait. Be well!

clams4 (1 of 1)

MUSSELS AND CLAMS IN WHITE WINE LEMON SAUCE

  • Servings: makes about 4 servings
  • Print

Inspired by Adventures in Cooking (such a beautiful blog, and this recipe made me not only remember and revisit my own recipe, but really want to plan a trip to the American northwest.)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
  • 6 fresh whole clams
  • 1 lb fresh whole mussels
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 fennel bulbs chopped into large chunks
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 handful fresh chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 handful fresh chopped chives

clams3 (1 of 1)

Directions:

In a large pot or dutch oven whisk together the wine, water, lemon juice, and tomato paste over medium heat until the tomato paste has disintegrated into the liquid. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, and cook for 10 minutes until the clams and mussels pop open from heat and serve immediately. If any of them don’t open after the rest have, leave aside and don’t eat. Serve with crusty bread.

clams (1 of 1)

clams8 (1 of 1)

cielito

diego

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mad Dog

    Leaving pieces of your self with distant friends sounds very Frida Kahlo. Your mussels and clams are a perfect spring supper – we’ve had a lot of sunshine and warmer temperatures here this week. I hope New York weather is improving too 😉

  2. Karinna

    How did that mole turn out? And clams are such beautiful things. I sadly haven’t been able to enjoy mussels since getting terrible food poisoning from them years ago. Just can’t do it. Maybe after another decade!

    • Amanda

      Oh no! I know the feeling. How awful. Bi actually got food poisoning from raspberries once and even though they’re my favorites in only slowly reintroducing them. I haven’t actually made the mole yet. When i get back to ny I’ll definitely do it. So yummy. Thanks as always for your comment. It’s so nice to see you here and even more so when I’m traveling. Xo

  3. Lan | morestomach

    lovely! i don’t cook seafood often at home, the smell lingers! but, mussels and clams are on my list of foods to attempt…soon.

    happy & safe travels!

    • Amanda

      Thanks, Lan. I was life you for a while but now i just accept the fact that my work outfits will smell like a fish market. Ha! Actually this dish isn’t too bad because the pot is covered. Thanks for dropping by as always. Xo

  6. Debbie

    My recipe is similar except I add chopped up chorizo at the end. Either way they are delish! Funny, I remember having a certain painting in our house similar to the one shown!

    • Amanda

      Lol. We ate under that painting for years. I’ve made your recipe before. It’s spicy and so good. Very good stuff. So nice to see you here. I don’t think i would be who i am in the kitchen if you weren’t who you are.

    • Amanda

      Thanks so much, Michelle. It’s so nice to see you following all my travels on instagam (my latest challenge) from upstate ny to Mexico City. It feels life taking a friend with me. Xo

  10. annascuisine

    I love the story that goes with these mussels and clams; reminds me of the good old days and my mom’s clams’ recipe. This sounds so good with crusty bread that you mentioned as well as with pasta. And with white wine in the recipe? Absolutely delish! 😀

    • Amanda

      Thanks, Anna. So funny you’d say that. My own mom just commented that she thought the recipe seemed oddly familiar and that the photos were similar to the ones we had hanging growing up. I guess the fruit doesn’t fall far. Thanks so much for reading. Xo

  11. sabine

    HI Amanda, mussels and clams are one of our favorite meals, reminding us of the time we were just the 2 of us and had the time to enjoy every meal to the fullest. This sounds great, though I´ve never had fennel with the clams (my husband isn´t a fan, regrettably), but I´m sure I would love that. “A splash for the pot, a splash for me”…well that sounds familiar, too!

    • Amanda

      Oh Sabine what a nice memory. The fennel loses some if the strong flavor as it boils. you’re making me worried about this kids thing. You still have time for such a beautiful blog. I’m watching and seeing how it goes with my niece before diving in. Xo

  12. thejameskitchen

    Amanda, send some my way quickly! I use fennel in my mussels, too and hardly ever make them differently. The flavours go so well together. Lots of bread to soak up the wine-heavy sauce, of course. N xo

    • Amanda

      Yes, Nicole. It’s perfect. I’d love to easy this one with you. Sometimes a hint of saffron makes it extra special. Hope you’re well! Xo

      • thejameskitchen

        Saffron! I never had saffron in the mussel broth but should be absolutely fabulous, thanks Amanda. Well enough and making lots of lemonade, a sunny day like today makes all the difference. Hope you are getting on with that ice-fishing 😉 and keeping warm. N xo

  13. Chica Andaluza

    This dish makes me homesick for Spain as I make this as a pre dinner tapas usually a couple of times a week when the fish man drives up in his little van and sells me a little bag of them fresh from the sea! Your clams are bigger than ours, they look amazing 🙂

    • Amanda

      So nice to see you here, Cynthia!! Thanks so much. I used to be scared of cooking anything alive, but if you’re careful about not eating the ones that don’t open, you’re usually good to go. Hope you’re doing well and not working too hard! Thanks for taking the time to comment!

  17. love in the kitchen

    Oh Amanda – so beautifully put. I’ve left pieces of myself in so many places and tears on so many pillows as I wake up dreaming of someone or somewhere I’ve left behind.
    love the references to frida and also adore the seafood in white wine sauce. The last time I had mussels I was on the west coast on Puget Sound.And now, by curious coincidence am off to cooking school this week to do a seafood course.
    xo

    • Amanda

      Aww so glad you can relate, Lindy. Is a beautiful kind of pain. I love seafood. I hope you have a wonderful cooking class! Teach us what you learn. Best, always. Xo

  19. platedujour

    Beautiful pictures Amanda and great recipe. I know exactly how you feel about the ocean and long warm and lazy days…I miss it too. Almost every year we go to Sicily, and we always stay at the sea,the food is wonderful and the water is divine. We love mussels and clams, and these here oh well…they make me wanna go back! xx

  20. Liz

    I love Kahlo!!!! How fantastic that you were able to visit her home. Hard to imagine the life she lived–so tortured. But out of it came amazing beauty in her art. And a crazy strength for women everywhere. Love that you copied her mole recipe 🙂

    Again, you wax so poetically about your travels and the people waiting for you at home. Mussels are a restaurant order for me, so it’s interesting that they’re something different for you. Funny how we build our feelings for food around what we’ve grown up with. Always happy to read your posts, Amanda.