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Almejas en Salsa Verde
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Almejas en salsa verde belong to the Basque coast: briny clams, garlic, parsley and txakoli in a pale green sauce that thickens when you shake the cazuela, never when you fuss with a spoon.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
Special Occasion
40 min
Active Time
15 min cook•55 min total
Yield4 servings
Almejas en salsa verde, clams in green sauce, belongs to the Basque coast. Fresh clams open in a warm sauce of garlic, parsley and txakoli, with their own liquor providing most of the seasoning. Its green comes from parsley, not a raw herb paste, and its body comes from a little flour. No cream. The sauce should remain light enough to run into the open shells.
The movement decides the dish. Once the clams enter the cazuela, the low, wide cooking pan, you shake it in small circles instead of stirring. That steady motion binds the olive oil, flour and clam liquor while the shells open, giving you a glossy sauce rather than a floury gravy. Lift each clam out as it opens, because one extra minute turns a tender clam stubborn.
If txakoli is hard to find, use a young, bone-dry white wine such as Albariño. The sauce will lose a little of txakoli's sharp northern acidity, but it will still be right. Small live littlenecks also work in place of Basque almejas; they are firmer, so allow them up to one extra minute. No hace falta haber pisado España. The Margin beside mine says simply: move the pan, not the clams. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Almejas en salsa verde belongs to the coastal kitchens of the Basque Country, where cooks use the shellfish liquor itself as stock and waste none of its briny strength. Salsa verde there names a family of warm parsley sauces, especially associated with hake; the Donostia preparation known as merluza a la koskera carries the same foundation with clams, asparagus and egg. The flour is not there to make a heavy gravy, but to hold olive oil, wine and seafood juices in a thin sauce meant to be gathered with bread.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
live small clams, preferably almeja fina or babosa, or littleneck clams
Quantity
1.2kg
sorted, purged and scrubbed
cold water, for purging
Quantity
2L
fine sea salt, for purging
Quantity
70g
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves (about 12g)
finely chopped
dried guindilla (optional)
Quantity
1 small
split
plain flour
Quantity
15g
dry txakoli, or another young dry white wine
Quantity
125ml
water, for the sauce
Quantity
100ml
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
20g
very finely chopped and divided
fine sea salt (optional)
Quantity
up to 1g
add only after tasting
crusty country bread (optional)
Quantity
300g
sliced for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| live small clams, preferably almeja fina or babosa, or littleneck clamssorted, purged and scrubbed | 1.2kg |
| cold water, for purging | 2L |
| fine sea salt, for purging | 70g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| garlicfinely chopped | 3 cloves (about 12g) |
| dried guindilla (optional)split | 1 small |
| plain flour | 15g |
| dry txakoli, or another young dry white wine | 125ml |
| water, for the sauce | 100ml |
| flat-leaf parsleyvery finely chopped and divided | 20g |
| fine sea salt (optional)add only after tasting | up to 1g |
| crusty country bread (optional)sliced for serving | 300g |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide, shallow lidded cazuela or sauté pan, 28 to 30cm
- •Large nonreactive bowl, at least 3L
- •Wooden spoon
- •Tongs
Instructions
- 1
Sort and purge
Discard clams with cracked shells. Tap any open clam firmly against the worktop and discard it if the shell does not close. Dissolve the 70g sea salt in 2L cold water, add the clams, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Lift them out rather than pouring them into a colander, which would tip the expelled grit straight back over them. Rinse under cold running water and scrub the shells.
If your fishmonger confirms the clams have already been purged, give them a thorough cold rinse and skip the soak. Never leave live clams in fresh water, where they quickly weaken and die. - 2
Prepare everything first
Drain the clams well. Chop the garlic and parsley, measure the flour, wine and water, and set a bowl and tongs beside the stove. Once the clams enter the pan, the cooking moves quickly. This isn't the moment to begin looking for the parsley.
- 3
Build the garlic base
Warm the olive oil in a wide 28 to 30cm lidded cazuela or sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and guindilla, if using, and cook for 60 to 90 seconds, until fragrant and only faintly golden at the edges. Keep the garlic pale; browned garlic makes this delicate sauce bitter. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the oil and turn it through with a wooden spoon for 45 seconds to remove its raw taste.
- 4
Loosen with txakoli
Pour in the txakoli, then the 100ml water. From this point, put the spoon aside. Hold the cazuela by its handles and move it in small, steady circles while the liquid comes to a gentle bubble. Cook for 2 minutes, then add half the parsley. The sauce should be smooth and loose because the clams still have their liquor to give.
- 5
Open and shake
Add the clams in an even layer, cover the pan, and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the covered cazuela every 20 seconds. Shaking folds the clam liquor into the oil and flour without knocking the shellfish about, and that movement is what makes the sauce silky. Start checking after 2 minutes and lift each opened clam into the waiting bowl with tongs. Littlenecks may need up to 6 minutes. Discard any clam that remains closed.
- 6
Finish the sauce
Once all the clams are out, shake the uncovered cazuela over medium heat for 30 seconds. The sauce should cling lightly to a shell but still pool freely. If it is too thick, shake in 15ml water; if thin, give it another 30 seconds. Return the clams and any clean liquor from their bowl, scatter in the remaining parsley, and shake for 20 seconds without boiling them again. Taste before adding any salt. Serve at once with bread for gathering every bit of sauce.
Chef Tips
- •Buy clams from a trusted fishmonger. They should smell clean and marine, feel heavy for their size, and close when tapped. Almeja fina and babosa are excellent; small littlenecks are the sensible substitute farther from the Basque coast, though their meat is a little firmer.
- •Txakoli gives the sauce brisk acidity and a faint mineral edge. If you cannot find it, use a young, dry, unoaked white such as Albariño. Avoid sweet wine and heavily oaked bottles, which cover the clams instead of helping them.
- •Do not salt the sauce until every clam has opened and released its liquor. That liquor can be quite salty. Taste first, then add no more than 1g salt if it truly needs it.
- •Serve these clams the moment they are ready, with bread and the same txakoli used in the pan. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and eat them by the next day, reheated only until warm; the clams toughen with a second hard cooking.
Advance Preparation
- •Keep live clams in a colander set over a bowl in the coldest part of the refrigerator, covered with a damp cloth. Do not seal them in plastic or leave them submerged. Purge them during the final 30 minutes before cooking.
- •The garlic and parsley can be chopped and the remaining ingredients measured up to 2 hours ahead, kept separately and covered in the refrigerator. Cook the clams only when everyone is ready to eat; this dish does not wait kindly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 145g)
Calories
230 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
280 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
14 g
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