Eat! It’s good for you! Anybody with an Italian grandmother has heard this in the kitchen, at the dining table, and across a picnic blanket. Sara Ghedina, TABLE Magazine’s correspondent from Italy’s Veneto region, offers up some delicious, summery fish dishes, like this Tuscan Clam Soup, that are good for you. So, eat!
The History of Tuscan Clam Soup
The Italian name for this soup is cacciucco. It’s a rich Tuscan fish dish that likely came to being as a way for fishermen to use smaller, less valuable fish, then evolving into a staple dish in coastal areas like Livorno. Seafood is plentiful in the coastal regions in the north of Italy, so combining many different kinds into one soup is a great way to use all of it at once.
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Tuscan Clam Soup
Ingredients
- 3 lb fresh clams, in-shell
- 3 tbsp tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 slices of country bread
Instructions
- In a large bowl of cold water and sea salt, let clams soak for 2 hours to purge sand. Scrub under cold running water and then rinse a few times until water runs clear.
- Place them in large pot covered with a lid and cook over medium-low heat for about 2-3 minutes until open. Shell all but a few and set aside. Strain cooking liquid and stir in tomato sauce until dissolved.
- Heat 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil in a large pan, add 3 whole garlic cloves and cook until golden. Discard garlic, add shelled clams, minced parsley, clam/tomato liquid, white wine, salt and black pepper, and cook at medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the bread slices, and toast them in the oven at 350 degrees for 6-7 minutes. While hot, rub with the remaining garlic clove and set aside.
- Divide the soup into 4 bowls, add the reserved whole clams, drizzle with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and serve with a slice of toasted bread.
Recipe & Photography by Sara Ghedina
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