Butter and sake-steamed clams with coastal greens

Not yet rated

Clams always make a quick and delicious dinner for two. If you have a drop of sake lying around, you're one step closer to cooking up this classic Japanese izakaya dish, courtesy of Shuko Oda. Remember to soak your kombu overnight, then steam your clams in a mixture of dashi, sake and butter, with a handful of sea herbs thrown in at the end for good measure.

First published in 2020
discover more:

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

  • 800g of palourde clams
  • 18g of salt
  • 600ml of water
  • 20g of unsalted butter
  • 60g of sake
  • 80g of sea herbs, such as sea aster, samphire, sea beets or sea purslane, separated from stalks and roughly chopped

Kombu dashi

Method

1
Combine the dried kombu and cold water and leave to soak overnight
2
Wash the clams in water then lay in a single flat layer in a large dish. Dissolve the table salt in the water, then pour over the clams. Leave them sitting in the fridge or a cool dark place for 3 hours – this will help clean any sand or grit from the clams
3
Combine the kombu dashi with the soy sauce and mirin and bring to the boil, then set aside
4
Melt the butter over a medium-high heat in a saucepan with a lid. Remove the clams from the water and give them another quick wash under running water before adding to the melted butter. When the butter is foaming, add the sake, 60g of the kombu dashi and the roughly chopped coastal greens and place a lid on the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the clams open, then serve immediately
  • 20g of unsalted butter
  • 60g of sake
  • 80g of sea herbs, such as sea aster, samphire, sea beets or sea purslane, roughly chopped
First published in 2020
DISCOVER MORE:

Shuko Oda spent much of her life living between Japan and the UK, making her the perfect person to combine traditional Japanese cooking and seasonal British ingredients at Koya – one of Soho’s most cherished restaurants.

Get in touch

Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.