Steamed Clams, Portuguese Style

Total Time: 4 hrs 40 mins Preparation Time: 4 hrs 30 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 5
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 lbs linguica sausage or 2 lbs chorizo sausage, sliced into 3 to 4 inch lengths (portuguese sausage)
• 1 large onion, sliced into wedges
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup dry wine
• 1 cup water
• 5 lbs clams in shell (smaller the better)
• lemon wedge (optional)
• chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• cilantro (optional)

Recipe

• 1 prepare clams: put them in a bowl or pan and cover with cold water; add some cornmeal& salt to the water- they'll ingest this and'spit out' any sand they're carrying.
• 2 leave them in this for 4 hrs, changing to clean water about halfway through.
• 3 discard any open clams.
• 4 in a large stockpot, warm the oil over medium heat.
• 5 add the garlic& red pepper; saute until garlic is golden.
• 6 add the sausage, onion, tomatoes, wine& water; stir to mix.
• 7 add the clams, turn heat to high& cover- steam until clams open- approximately 8 minutes.
• 8 discard any clams that do not open.
• 9 divide clams and broth into 5 soup bowls; if desired, sprinkle with parsley& cilantro and serve with a lemon wedge.