Rachel Khoo recipes: Garlic clams with soda bread
I recently spent a couple of weeks in Portugal indulging in one of my new favourite pastimes, surfing. Being on the Atlantic coast, I was not only blessed with some excellent waves, but a bounty of sea creatures to tuck into. Clams and cockles were often on the menu with heaps of garlic. I’ve added a soda bread recipe to soak up those lovely juices.
Garlic clams with speedy soda bread
Ingredients (Serves 4)
250g wholemeal flour
250g plain flour
1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ tsp salt
10g soft light brown sugar
300ml buttermilk
1 tbsp milk
20g porridge oats
For the clams
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
Pinch of salt
125ml dry white wine
1.2kg clams, washed
Handful of finely chopped parsley
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan). In a large bowl, mix the flours with the bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk with 150ml water, pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine. Dust the work surface with extra flour and knead the dough into a large round loaf (it will be quite sticky). Place on a lined baking tray. Use a sharp knife to cut a deep cross in the top. Brush with the milk and scatter the porridge oats on top. Place in the oven for 40 minutes and remove when the top is crusty and when you flip it over and tap the base it sounds hollow. Set aside on a wire rack to cool.
While the bread is cooling, heat the oil in a large lidded saucepan and add the garlic and shallots with a pinch of salt. Cook for 3 minutes over a medium heat, crank up the heat to high, add the white wine and cook for 30 seconds before adding the clams. Pop the lid on the pan and give it a good shake. Cook the clams for 4-5 minutes, or until they have steamed open.
Add half the parsley, divide the clams between 4 bowls with the juices and scatter more parsley on top. Serve at once with the soda bread, tearing it into chunks to soak up the juices.