New England Night

It was a very Red Lobster-esque New England Seafood Feast at our house last night. Littleneck clams steamed in white wine broth, Atlantic salmon, purple asparagus, and roasted potatoes and onions with rosemary.

While obviously Southern food is clearly my absolute favorite type of regional cuisine, I must admit those Yankees in New England have some really great food. Especially of the maritime variety. Last weekend's visit to the Connecticut coast was like a never-ending all-you-can-eat seafood buffet -- but with delicious (and fresh) offerings. I had lobster, clams, scallops, shrimp, and scrod. And it was still not enough. So we tried to take care of that last night.

The littleneck clams, like all mollusks, are super-easy to fix. Start with garlic and butter in a large pot (there may have been onion thrown in there too). Add in some chopped parsley and sage, but save some to add in later. Then some
white wine, the rinsed-off clams, and top off with more white wine. Let it cook for about 10 minutes on high heat until the clams just begin to open up. Once most of the clams are open, discard the ones that aren't, and scoop up as much broth as possible with the good ones. Some bread may also be required to maximize garlicy-wine-butter-broth absorption.

As for the salmon, I marinated them in a glass baking pan with some soy sauce, orange juice, ginger paste, cracked black pepper, brown sugar, and a teensy bit of orange marmalade. I love how improvisational marinades can be, yet they always turn out pretty fantastic. Left it to marinate in the fridge about an hour, but up to 4 hours is better. Wrapped them in foil packets and threw them on the grill on low heat. Took about 12 minutes to cook. It normally salmon takes more like 8 minutes or less, but we were cooking slow and they turned out so....creamy? In a good way. Just watch until the middle is opaque and it starts to flake off when poked with a fork.

Oven roasted the asparagus and the potatoes and Vidalia onions on 450 for about 15 minutes. The potatoes will take longer than the asparagus. Also, the purple asparagus just turns green when cooked unless you use lemon juice (same for purple peppers). By the way, purple asparagus is a little sweeter than the regular green, and can even be eaten raw. White asparagus, on the other hand, is made by a process that seems like plant-cruelty-- forced albinism. Basically they are covered with soil so they never get light, hence never produce chlorophyll. It makes them milder and more tender than their colored bretheren. Shudder. Too many comparisons to veal for me... I'll stick with green and purple, thanks.