Steamed Clams over Sauteed Escarole

I was on the phone with a friend last night explaining how I was trying a new recipe that I wasn't exactly thrilled with but that tasted pretty darn good. I wasn't going to post about it until she reminded me that I should be writing about the recipes I want to improve too. People can learn from my mistakes right?

A few years ago I worked for an Italian restaurant with a rather eccentric and accomplished chef. He would work for hours quietly concentrating on the small details of everything he made. He reminded me of Eeyore and I loved watching him slowly move through his kitchen with such calculated movements. He made the best chicken soup I've ever had, the only one I like more than my own. He made baked semolina gnocchi drizzled with a mushroom cream sauce that I promise to try and recreate one of these days. He was a huge inspiration to me in the kitchen. It was just me for dinner last night so I picked up a head of escarole with the intention of mimicking the sauteed escarole he used to make. I also saw a dozen little neck clams on sale so I brought them home too.

Here's what happened:

1 Dozen little neck clams
1 Head of escarole
1 Tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic - thinly sliced
1/8 Tsp. red pepper flakes
Lemon juice and butter for dressing.
salt and pepper to taste.

I chopped off the end of the escarole and washed the leaves under cold water and let it sit in a colander while I scrubbed the clams clean and sliced the garlic.

In a large pot I set water to boil with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Once it was at a rolling boil I put the escarole in for two minutes to par boil. I drained the escarole and let it sit in the colander again. In the same pot I used for the escarole I placed the clams so they were standing in a inch of water and brought the water to a boil.

While the clams were cooking I heated the olive oil in a frying pan. To the hot oil I added the red pepper flakes and sliced garlic. I let the garlic cook for one minute and then added the escarole to the pan to coat with the olive oil and let it cook for two minutes.

The clams are cooked as soon as the open up and by the time the escarole was done most had opened so I made myself a plate. and drizzled lemon juice and a little melted butter over the clams.

So here is the only problem I found the greens were very tasty but a little...wet. In the future I might dry the escarole off on a paper towel or omit par boiling all together and just saute longer. The par boiling did help remove all the bitterness involved with the escarole.

This was a perfectly light but filling dinner for me but I fill easy. Put this on a bigger platter with more escarole and more clams it would make for a really nice family style appetizer.