As part of our coverage on the Leather District Gourmet's Teach a Man to Fish Project, we spoke to J.J. Gonson, an expert on sustainable and local cuisine. She offers this advice on shopping for (and eating!) local clams.
"Clams are pretty sustainable things, especially in this area. They are farmed, in a very old fashy way. Think men in hip waders, in some icy water. If you are in New England there is no reason to buy clams from China, at any time of year!
"Whole Foods get their clams from the Cape, and can get quahogs on one days notice.
In Cambridge there are three excellent fish markets I can think of off the top of my head: The Courthouse and New Deal in East Cambridge, and the Fishmonger in Huron Village. I am sure there are just as many, or more, in Boston, not least of which is Legal Seafoods.
"You can get a variety of clams and oysters from very close by. Just be sure to ask, 'Where did these come from?' I don't recommend buying if the answer is 'I don't know.'
"Bivalves are the ocean's filtration system, so when you eat them not only are you taking a break on over-fished finned animals, allowing them to recover and grow, but you are also helping to encourage the industry that creates more animals to clean the dirty seas!"
J.J. will be conducting two cooking demos with oysters at the Wellfleet Oysterfest in Cape Cod on Saturday, Oct 18. She'll be doing clam chowder at 11:30am, and oyster cornbread stuffing [Ed: mmm] at 2:00pm. Space is limited, so get your tickets ($10) in advance here.
See her recipe for Traditional Clam Chowder, after the jump...
J.J. Gonson's Traditional Clam Chowder
Here is my recipe for clam chowder, as I learned it at my mommy's knees in the tiny kitchen, overlooking the Wellfleet bay.
Depending on how many people you plan to feed, you can decide how much of each ingredient to use. For 4 servings, use approximately:
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 clove of garlic
3 lbs of clams steamed in 1-2 cups of water
2 slices of bacon or 1T butter
4T butter
4T flour
3 cups milk + 1 cup of cream or 4 cups of milk
2 large, floury potatoes
Instructions:
1) Steam open clams and other shellfish and reserve liquid.
2) Remove clams from shells and set aside. If you use quahogs or razor or other large clams, cut into bite size bits.
3) Reduce the clam broth over a hot flame until it is reduced by half and quite concentrated (or use bottled clam broth).
4) Heat milk or a combination of milk and cream.
5) Either render small pieces of bacon and use the fat, or use butter, to saute diced celery, onion and garlic until fragrant.
6) Boil and dice potatoes.
7) Make a roux with a ratio of 1T of butter to 1T of flour for each cup of milk you will use, by sautéing flour in butter for a minute, stirring constantly.
8) Over low heat, add hot milk to the roux, a small amount at a time, stirring well to remove lumps. When the milk mixture begins to thicken, but is still quite runny, add all of the other ingredients, along with a bit of fresh thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
9) Bring the whole thing to just below a boil and cook for half an hour to allow flavors to marry. Do not boil or the soup can separate, or "break."
You can use this same recipe to make fish or corn chowder, or any combination, but if you use a very moist fish, like cod, do not use all of the clam broth as the chowder will be too watery!
(Photo credits: photo of quahog tagged "Bostonist" on Flickr by Chris Seufert; photo of chowdah by Luna Kruz on Flickr used via Creative Commons)
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