So I've had this yearning to have a traditional East Coast clambake. Problem is I am land locked in Colorado. Recently my grandma sent me this amazing cookbook. It has tons of recipes seperated by the region of the U.S. they came from. I will definitely be making my way around the country in recipes.
Inside was a recipe for a clambake and I decided this summer I needed to try it, so the bf and I made dinner for my parents.
What You Need:
2 Large Onions, cut into wedges
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 bottle Pale Ale of medium bodied beer
1 cup water
1 1/2 pounds small potatoes
1 pound dry cured chorizo, we used chorizo ground like hamburger meat
Coarse salt
3 Live lobsters, we used three frozen lobster tails
36 littleneck clams, we used about 20
4 ears of corn husked and halved, we used 3
2 pounds of mussels
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, shells on
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 lemons, halved
16 quart stock pot
Steamer basket small enough to sit at the bottom of the pot
Directions:
Combine onions, garlic, ale and water in a 16-quart stock pot. Place the steamer basket on top of the onions then add potatoes, chorizo, 1 tbs. salt and bring to a boil. Add the lobsters, cover and cook on high heat for 15 minutes. Add clams, corn; cook covered for 6 minutes. Then add mussels and shrimp and continuing cooking on high heat approx. 4-8 minutes until the mussels and clams open, and the shrimp are opaque throughout.
We changed the recipe a little since there were only 4 people instead of the 6-8 it serves. We basically just cut down all the seafood by a third. I'd never had a clambake before but this one was amazing. It has the chorizo in it which made it so flavorful.
