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.
Jump to RecipeSeafood + 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
Special 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). Begin cooking process.
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 Wares section for plating supplies & 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.
Recipe
Saffron Steamed Clams
Ingredients
- 130 small live clams about 8 pounds
- 2 tbsp sea salt for rinsing clams
- 12 cloves garlic minced
- 4 small onions minced
- 20 tbsp unsalted butter divided: 12 tbsp + 8 tbsp
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 tsp saffron threads
- 8 tbsp flat leaf parsley chopped
- 1 1/3 cups lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 4 tbsp lemon zest finely grated
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 8 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced varied color is nice for garnish
- 50 pieces flat leaf parsley (or chopped)
- 60 pieces small garlic toasts see below
Gluten Free Garlic Toasts
- 4 loaves gluten free bread baguette (often in freezer section of specialty stores)
- 1/2 cup butter (salted preferred) cut in 4 tbsp sections
- 4 cloves garlic minced (more or less to taste)
Instructions
Preparing Clams
- Fill a large pot with cold water and add 2 Tablespoons sea salt. Stir a bit to dissolve salt.
- Gently place clams in water and soak for 20 minutes. (If you drop them in, they shells may break.
- Gently drain clams and rinse under sink.
- Check clams to make sure still alive. Shells should be tightly closed. Discard any that stay open or are crushed.
- Use a vegetable brush to lightly scrub shells if they have any debris on them.
Steaming Clams
- Prep saffron by heating up 1 cup of broth on stove or in microwave. Add in saffron and allow to simmer for a few minutes. Turn off heat and set aside to soak and fully bloom the flavor while you prep.
- In large pot melt 12 T butter. Add onion and cook on medium heat to allow onions to soften and slightly caramelize.
- Add garlic and let cook 30 sec for fragrance.
- Stir in stock, saffron mix, lemon juice, lemon zest, thyme, sea salt mix well to create the broth base. Heat to a simmer then turn off heat.
- Place in clams in a single layer into broth (if pan not large enough, steam batches). Cover with lid a bring to simmer 7-10 minutes until they all look open.
- Pull out clams (trying to keep meat intact and set in bowls. Pull out any meat pieces that were left behind in broth and place in any empty shell pieces.
Finishing Sauce
- Once clams and any loose meat pieces are removed, stir cream into broth and bring back to boil allowing to reduce and thicken (about 10 minutes).
- Turn off heat and add in remaining butter stirring well to fully melt and incorporate. Stir in chopped parsley. Allow to cool slightly.
- Spoon broth over clams (in bowls) allowing it to drip over clams.
- Garnish with about 1/2 tablespoon of chopped tomatoes and a couple parsley springs. Add garlic toasts to the side or on top.
Garlic Toasts (make ahead)
- Cut a gluten free bread loaf into ½ inch thick pieces. Cut each piece to desired size: a skinny baguette may not need further cutting, whereas a large loaf slice may need to be quartered. Place on lined baking tray ensuring one even layer (use multiple trays as needed).
- In a heat-proof bowl, melt butter in microwave to just starting to get liquid state – and little more runny than softened. Stir in minced garlic. You can also do this over a stovetop in a small saucepan.
- Using a pastry brush, spread garlic butter on top side of bread pieces
- Bake 400 for 10 minutes. Flip and bake for another 5 minutes watching to make sure they are not burning.
