Get Happy As a Clam

Wondering what to cook for dinner tonight that’s easy? Get inspired by your travels and ingredients on hand.

Pasta is always welcome in our house and can be made with just about anything you have on hand. So what did I have? I found in the fridge some onion already diced. Half my work done for me. Hooray! I dumped that into a skillet with some olive oil to start cooking while I looked around for what else was easy. I spotted some zucchini in the fridge that was partially used already because I had julienned just the outside parts for a previous meal. The middles remained and I decided they would fill in for squash blossoms that I enjoyed in Italy. Now my vision was coming together.

The Inspiration

My first dinner in Venice, Italy was pasta with squash blossoms and fresh clams. I didn’t have any fresh clams at home, but I had some canned ones and decided I had found my inspiration. Zucchini isn’t as decorative as its blossoms, but the flavor is similar. Think outside the box when deciding what to cook for dinner tonight. Easy!

Once the diced onion had started to get some color, I added to it:

• minced garlic
• dried French thyme
• dried basil
• bay leaf
• white wine
• the clam juice from the canned clams

As the aroma filled the air and the sauce began to reduce, I started to get excited about dinner. I tossed into the skillet some cherry tomatoes to simmer just until the skins burst. Then I turned off the heat, added the canned clams and covered to await the cooked pasta. Canned clams are already cooked, so you simply want to allow them to heat through. If you cook them further, they will get rubbery. They’re a nice item to keep in your pantry for simple meals.

I decided to plate this with a leaf of radicchio because it’s beautiful and I like a little bitter component to counterbalance so many sweet elements. I tore mine up and mixed it into the dish. A little goes a long way, so I generally mix it into salads with other greens. It’s a vegetable that keeps longer than a lot of others in your fridge, so you can peel off a leaf or two now and then and leave the rest for later. It makes cooking without a recipe so easy.

How have your travels inspired the meals you create at home? For another of mine, please read Skillful With Shellfish next.