Clams in White Bean Sauce
A flavorful Mediterranean dish combining fresh clams with white beans in a fragrant sauce of fennel, garlic, and rosemary. Served with a bright fennel-herb salad and crusty bread for soaking up the delicious broth.
Ingredients
- •1 can white beans
- •¼ cup olive oil
- •1 to taste Kosher salt and pepper
- •1 bulb fennel bulb
- •3 cloves garlic cloves
- •1 sprig rosemary
- •1 whole lemon
- •1 handful parsley leaves
- •36 pieces littleneck or Manila clams
- •4 slices country-style bread
- •1 to taste toasted
Cooking Instructions
- 1.
Toss beans in a medium bowl with a drizzle of oil; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2 min
- 2.
Halve fennel and remove fronds (don't toss the fronds!). Thinly slice one half of fennel and transfer to a medium bowl along with fronds. Place a damp paper towel directly on fennel to help prevent browning and set aside. Finely chop remaining half of fennel, then thinly slice garlic.
10 min
- 3.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large heavy pot over medium. Add chopped fennel, garlic, and rosemary sprig and cook, stirring often, until fennel is translucent and tender but still has some bite, about 5 minutes.
5 min
- 4.
While that's happening, remove 2 wide strips of zest from lemon with a vegetable peeler. Halve lemon and pick out seeds. Coarsely chop parsley.
5 min
- 5.
Add clams and lemon zest to pot, squeeze in juice from a lemon half, cover pot, and cook until some clams start to open, 5-7 minutes. Toss and stir clams; use a slotted spoon to transfer any open ones to a medium bowl. Cover pot and cook until remaining clams open, checking sporadically and transferring them to bowl as they are done, 7-9 minutes; discard any clams that don't open. Add reserved seasoned beans to pot and stir to combine; loosen sauce with water if it looks too tight. Return clams to pot, add half of parsley, and toss well.
15 min
- 6.
Add remaining parsley to bowl with reserved sliced fennel and squeeze remaining lemon half over. Season fennel-herb salad with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Drizzle with a very small amount of oil and toss again.
3 min
- 7.
Serve clams topped with salad and toasted bread for dipping into sauce.
2 min