Carina Contini recipe: Summer broth of clams, French beans and pesto genovese
Warm summer evenings may be few and far between, but this dish will give you that summery feeling regardless of the weather.
When it comes to fresh, seasonal produce, it really doesn’t get better than this. Our kitchen garden is overflowing with good things to give our chefs lots of delicious possibilities for the menus. It may not have been a scorcher of a summer, but the rain and just enough sun ensure that all the herbs and vegetables have been growing like crazy in recent weeks. Unfortunately, so have the weeds and my husband Victor makes it his personal mission to try to keep them under control. Good luck with that.
Our recipes this week celebrate the very best Scotland has to offer right now. The key ingredients are in their prime this month and that inevitably means they taste the best they possibly can.
Ingredients
- 6-7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, very finely chopped
- 1kg surf clams
- 200g French beans, cut into 2cm quills
- a generous splash of dry white wine
- 1 garlic clove
- 50g pine kernels
- 250g basil leaves, chopped
- 75g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
- a few pinches of salt
- 100ml double cream
Serves: 4 Difficulty: Easy Time to cook: 35 mins
Method
Summer broth of clams, French beans and pesto genovese
1 Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, deep pan. When it is hot, add the onion. Fry until translucent, then add the clams, beans and wine. Cook for a few minutes to evaporate the wine.
2 Meanwhile, make the pesto. Using a pestle and mortar, cream the garlic with a pinch of salt. Add the pine kernels and loosen the mixture with a little olive oil. Gradually add the basil, blending it into the garlic mixture. Add more oil as required (around 4-5 tablespoons) until you have a smooth paste that is the consistency of sour cream. This will take about 10 minutes. Finally add the Pecorino Romano and more salt, to taste.
3 Add the cream, a generous spoonful of the pesto Genovese and salt into the clam mixture. Cover with a lid and steam for 3-4 minutes until the clams have all opened. Serve.