Carne Asada Clams
Carne Asada Clams
A pool of jammy salsa verde brings together this surf-and-turf. Go with manila or razor clams for a full-on briny moment.
This is Fresca’s very first recipe. I’ve been writing recipes since I was six years old. I’d sit next to my mom to write down what she was cooking and tell her I needed to write her recipes before she died (I know, I was that kid with very direct truths). I dream of recipes based on memories. The recipes for the food I want to cook and eat at home that pull me to a particular moment: like that first crunchy bite of a fish taco in Vallarta, the intensity of that first mouthful of soba with yuzu broth, the addictive energy of toothpick cumin lamb.
When it comes to cooking for v-day or simply cooking for yourself, I’m a big fan of cooking for pleasure and pleasure only. The kind of pleasure that cooking for someone else can bring, but also the kind of pleasure that being kind to yourself brings. Carne Asada Clams can be your new celebratory dish or your new carne asada on a weeknight. The surf-and-turf combination of meaty and briny flavors comes together with a bright, jammy salsa verde. I like to add chicken broth to this salsa to channel that umami punch that you find via Knorr Suiza aka chicken bouillon. The secret ingredient to many salsas at taquerías (gasps!).
I conjured this dish years ago on my birthday at The Jolly Oyster, a shellfish shack at a state beach in Ventura, California. I was there with some of the closest friends I had since moving to Los Angeles. We scored a coveted weekend picnic table with a public grill so we bravely threw a large skillet on the hot grill and seared a beautiful cut of steak. As it cooked, I scattered some of the local manila clams into the skillet to steam in the carne asada’s juices.
To be honest, las cosas se complicaron and we all disappeared from each other’s lives. It felt like a loss for a long time, a heartbreak. But all these years later, I finally understand that most relationships we have are meant to be part of a tiny window in life, and there is a radical kind of pure love in those fleeting moments.
Go with manila or razor clams for a full-on briny moment, but mussels' delicate flavor work just as well.
P.S. I made you a playlist. It transports you when cooking this recipe. Listen here.