{"id":11328,"date":"2010-06-10T07:37:59","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T11:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=11328"},"modified":"2010-06-10T07:37:59","modified_gmt":"2010-06-10T11:37:59","slug":"ohc-cooks-bivalves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2010\/06\/ohc-cooks-bivalves\/","title":{"rendered":"OHC Cooks Bivalves"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Next to pork, seafood is my favorite source of “animal” protein.\u00a0 I could eat it all the time!\u00a0 Well, okay not all the time as I sort of get tired of animal protein.\u00a0 But I like it a great deal! Let’s go with that instead.<\/p>\n

The first time I ever had bivalves to eat (clam chowder from a can doesn’t count!) was with Scott.\u00a0 We lived in a small town outside of Philly when we graduated college.\u00a0 There was a little Italian restaurant that we used to frequent\u00a0 and they served clams in a white wine sauce.\u00a0 Heaven!\u00a0 It was the best thing I ever ate and it was amazing.<\/p>\n

The first time I ever had mussels, we were living in North Carolina at the time and ordered mussels Rockefeller.\u00a0 I hated them.\u00a0 The mussels were chewy and just not something I enjoyed at all.\u00a0 I left the rest for Scott to eat.\u00a0 I’ll stick with clams, thank you!<\/p>\n

Scott is the only one in this family who can dig on oysters.\u00a0 I do not want to slurp a slimy mess thanks.<\/p>\n

Eventually I grew to love mussels! I realize now that the first time I had them they were overcooked and not prepared properly.\u00a0 Now I’ve had them on several different occasions and love them a great deal more.<\/p>\n

Despite the bivalve appreciation, I have never cooked them before!\u00a0 Mostly because I was afraid and I also didn’t have access to some fresh ones.\u00a0 Now I am not so afraid because it seems super easy to make and I’ve watched people make them loads of times on TV.\u00a0 The only obstacle standing in my way was finding some fresh.<\/p>\n

My local Whole Foods has a fish department but it smells like fish.\u00a0 There is also another local place that sells fresh fish, but most of the time it also smells really fishy and icky.\u00a0 First rule of thumb when buying seafood is if it smells like seafood\/fishy then it’s not good or fresh. <\/strong> Seafood should smell like the sea, slightly salty and bright! You shouldn’t say, “Ew” but “Hrm, I just barely smell anything!”<\/p>\n

Last weekend while we were out running errands, we happened to be in the vicinity of the local place that sells fish.\u00a0 It didn’t smell!\u00a0 I walked over and checked everything out and then I came to the clams and mussels.\u00a0 “Oooo that would be so good for dinner!”, I thought to myself.\u00a0 The price was fantastic and I mentioned this to Scott.\u00a0 He said to get them and I did! We came home with 1.5 dozen mussels and 1.5 dozen little neck clams.<\/p>\n

I placed them in a bowl with some ice packs and kept them in the fridge till the next day.\u00a0 They did not smell and my fridge did not smell like seafood at all.\u00a0 Sunday Supper was going to be amazing!\u00a0 Even though I ran a race that day, all my thoughts were focused on dinner and wine!\u00a0 You know, the serious stuff.\u00a0 Finally it was time to get cooking!<\/p>\n

I cleaned the seafood and removed the beards off of the mussels.\u00a0 I only had one little mussel that I had to throw away.\u00a0 He was open, so as per the instructions, I gave him a tap to see if he would close.\u00a0 He did not close all the way so out he went.\u00a0 Everybody else was perfect!\u00a0 The mussel beards are hard to pull off!\u00a0 Some I didn’t get fully but it didn’t interfere with the cooking or eating at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I knew I would be using wine for the sauce and steam for the seafood.\u00a0 We had an open bottle of Chardonnay and I used slightly more than a cup of that.\u00a0 No sips for the cook!\u00a0 I was waiting for dinner like a good girl.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Don’t mind the hair and outfit, it’s Sunday so that’s as good as it gets!\u00a0 I sauteed up some sundried tomato chicken sausage and removed that from the pan.\u00a0 Then I sauteed:<\/p>\n