Arroz con Almejas Gallego

Arroz con almejas is Galician, from the wet Atlantic edge where the clams are not a garnish but the dish. This is not a dry Valencian paella, and it shouldn't try to be one. It is arroz caldoso, spoon rice, loose and briny, with the clam liquor carrying the sea through the pot and a broken potato giving the broth a little body.

The method that decides it is simple: open the clams gently, strain every drop of their liquor, and return the meat only at the end. Boil the clams with the rice and they go tight and rubbery. Keep them back, cook the rice in the sofrito, wine, stock, and clam liquor, and the whole pot tastes of Galicia instead of tired shellfish.

If you are far from the rias, buy the best live clams you can find, small littlenecks if that is what your fishmonger has. Manila clams work too, though they are a little sweeter and less deep. Purge them well. No hace falta haber pisado Espana, but you do need clean clams, a real fish stock, and the sense not to dry the rice out. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.