Fresh whole clams steamed in a creamy saffron broth over a gluten-free garlic toasts. Topped with parsley and diced tomatoes.
Saffron steamed clams make a beautiful seafood course served as a small plate, appetizer or featured as a main dish. A great combination with a not-too-sweet Riesling.
Seafood + Saffron
Inspiration for this dish comes from a robust Seafood Paella, one of my favorite dishes when dining out. The smokey sweetness of saffron combined with the mineral-tasting shellfish in a luscious creamy based is an intoxicating combination. So I looked to replicate that experience in a simplified steamed clams dish.
Wine Pairing
Original Pairing: Tagaris Riesling 2021 Columbia Valley
General Pairing: a dry Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, or white Bordeaux
Menu Overview
Specialty Ingredients
Live Clams
Most types of clam will work for this dish, such as a basic manilla. I like to get smaller clams to fit well in a tasting cup. A good fishmonger or higher end seafood department with clean tanks would be preferred.
Saffron
A Spanish saffron works nicely to get the fragrant and smoky flavor. These come dried and usually in specialty packing. A little is all you need.
Equipment
Vegetable Scrubber
You will need this to clean the clams. You want firm enough bristles to scrub off any build up, but not too harsh to damage the shell.
Large Cooking Pot
This is to fit the clams to cook all at once in the broth. They can be stacked a little bit, but you want the clams to have contact with the broth.
Planning the Dish
Clams need to be freshly purchase and cleaned well. Give yourself time for those steps. The steaming process takes about 10 minutes, but if you are doing a large amount for a party plan to do them in batches. But you want to serve them right after you are done.
Timing
Day before: Prepping the steaming broth base the day make it quick work the day of your event.
Early day of: Best to buy clams the day of the event to ensure many stay alive. Give yourself time to soak, scrub and inspect the clams. Keep them cool but not covered (you want to keep them alive).
1+ hours serve: Prep garnishes. Get large pot ready. Make garlic toasts. Mis En Plus a work station to be ready to quickly cook and plate your clams.
30 minute to serve: check clams to make sure they are closed (alive).
Plating Tips
With clams you need to be able to get a small fork to pull out the meat from each little one, so access is important when plating. I found using some paper soup cups to be about the right size and stability when you have smaller clams.
For a sit-down meal, a shallow bowl where the clams could be in one layer (not piled on top of each other) would look great.
We served this with gluten-free garlic toasts off to the side so guests could soak up the beautiful broth. The garnishes were multi-colored diced tomatoes and parsley to add color, texture and complimentary flavors.
See Resources for plating supply ideas
Pairing Alterations
Any time you are relying on single-note herbs you can shift the flavors around to best fit the wine you want to serve. Here are some easy adjustments you could try if you feel you need to shift the flavors to pair with your particular wine.
Dial in the Saffron
The type of saffron you use as well as the amount can dramatically impact this dish. I used a pretty standard saffron that I am use to cooking with. If you have a more potent type, I would suggest you start light and build up to more depending on your taste.
Add a Lemon Kick
If you have a wine that leans towards a bit more citrus, you can build up the acidity of this dish with more lemon. I would focus on more lemon zest. Add more zest at the end as you thicken the sauce or even sprinkles over the clams right before pouring the sauce over them when plating.
