This impressive yet easy-to-execute, vibrant seafood stew comes from Chef Yotam Ottolenghi's famous Jerusalem cookbook. As the authors aptly note, "It works especially well in dinner-party situations, where you can cook everything in advance up to the stage where the prawns and scallops are added, chill the cooked clams, and then reheat and put everything together at the very last minute."
The finished dish's gorgeous, tomato-rich hue pairs as well with a Georgian amber wine's color as do its flavors.
Pairs with: Gurushvili Kisi Qvevri, Qarvani - Anapea Village Rkatsiteli Kisi, or any Georgian amber wine.
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 250 ml white wine
- 2 1/4 lb / 1 kg clams, scrubbed
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
- 3 1/2 cups / 600 g peeled and chopped Italian plum tomatoes (fresh or canned)
- 1 tsp superfine sugar
- 2 tbsp chopped oregano
- 1 lemon
- 7 oz / 200g tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
- 7 oz / 200g large scallops
- 4 oz / 120 g feta cheese, broken into 3/4-inch chunks
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the wine in a medium suaucepan and boil until reduced by three-quarters. Add the clams, cover immediately with a lid, and cook over high heat for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the clams open. Transfer to a fine sieve to drain, capturing the cooking juices in a bowl. Discard any clams that don't open, then remove the remainder from their shells, leaving a few with their shells to finish the dish, if you like.
- Preheat the oven to 475°F / 240°C.
- In a large frying pan, cook the garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat for about 1 minute, until golden. Carefully add the tomatoes, clam liquid, sugar, oregano, and some salt and pepper. Shave off 3 zest strips from the lemon, add them and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Discard the lemon zest.
- Add the prawns and scallops, stir gently, and cook for just a minute or two. Fold in the shelled clams and transfer everything to a small ovenproof dish. Sink the feta pieces into the sauce and sprinkle with the green onion. Top with some clams in their shells, if you like, and place in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the top colors a little and the prawns and scallops are just cooked. Remove the dish from the oven, squeeze a little lemon juice on top, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Serve with rice, couscous, or crusty bread and a cool glass of amber wine.