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Clams With Sherry and Olives

By Rebekah Peppler

4.3

(9)

Clams with sherry and olives in a castiron skillet.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne

The complex flavor of this dish—briny, aromatic, slightly spicy—belies the extraordinarily simple method of actually making it. Please don’t be shy with the amount of bread you serve alongside—the clams are delicious, but the broth created by their nectar mixed with the dry Spanish sherry and buttery Italian olives is the real reason for the season.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon piment d’Espelette
Fine sea salt
3 pounds [1.4 kg] small clams, such as littlenecks, scrubbed clean
1 cup [160 g] Castelvetrano olives
1 cup [240 ml] dry white wine
½ cup [120 ml] fino or manzanilla sherry
½ cup [20 g] finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Crusty bread, for serving

Preparation

  1. In a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat, add the oil and garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the piment d’Espelette and season with salt; cook for 10 seconds more, then stir in the clams, olives, wine, and sherry. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, lower the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the clams open, 10 to 12 minutes. Uncover, remove and discard any clams that don’t open, and add ¼ cup [10 g] of the parsley to the pot. Stir to combine and transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup [10 g] of parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

À Table Recipes for Cooking and Eating the French Way Cookbook Cover
Excerpted with permission from À Table: Recipes for Cooking and Eating the French Way © 2021 by Rebekah Peppler. Reprinted with permission by Chronicle Books. Buy the full book from Chronicle Books, Amazon, or Bookshop.
TagsSherryAlcoholBeveragesFrenchEuropeanClamShellfishSeafoodCastelvetrano OliveOliveMainDinnerDairy FreeNut FreeQuickEasySimmerDutch OvenChristmasCookbooks

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