Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Consider the clam

Shellfish looking for some local recognition

By Teresa Taylor
The Post and Courier

     Tom Metherell looks as if he has lead feet as he crosses an oyster bed poking out of an ebbing tide. His strides are long, but jerky as his feet lift his rubber boots from the tenacious grip of the gooey, blue-gray pluff mud below. He clutches a rake in one hand, making it serve as a walking stick when needed.

     This is where Metherell comes to work most days, way down the Folly River, in mud flats surrounded by acres and acres of thick, wavy marsh grass. This is where his love of the water can be a cruel master.

     A bad day, he says, is "30-mph winds from the northeast, below 50 degrees and raining." But this unusually mild January day is "perfect ... overcast and a little breezy."

     Metherell is the head clam man, unofficially a field and operations manager, for Blanchard Seafood on Folly Road. He's worked almost three years for company owner Tony Blanchard, who got his start in Lowcountry clam farming about 15 years ago.

     Blanchard knows firsthand the drawbacks of working in the "field."

     "The gnats are unbearable in the spring and fall, and you're dealing with the heat, the rain, the lightning."

     But the job has its perks, too. Metherell says his family "loves all the seafood I bring them," and the sightseeing can be extraordinary. "Definitely a dolphin show," he says, when asked about unusual occurrences on the river. "I've seen them chasing a fish and beach themselves."

     Homegrown, but unknown?

     Clams play fourth string behind the big three of Lowcountry shellfish — shrimp, oysters and crab — even though they grow extremely well here. Instead, they have acquired a much stronger culinary identity with the Northeast, where a New England clam bake is equivalent to a Lowcountry oyster roast. But the same clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, or northern quahog, is found up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

     Blanchard prides himself on his product, which he has branded as Stella Maris Premium Clams. Stella Maris is Latin for "star of the sea."

     "Our clams are really buttery and salty," he says. Also, they are marketed as "premium" because of the shell's thickness and natural gray color, a high meat-to-shell ratio and "purging."

     The latter, he explains, is an additional step to provide clams that are extra clean. After the clams are harvested with a rake into bags, they are dropped into a deep creek with a hard-shell bottom for 24 hours. Cleaner water allows the clams to naturally filter out, or purge, mud and sand they've ingested in the tidal flats.

     Blanchard leases about 400 acres from the state in the Folly and Kiawah rivers, where dime-size clam "seeds" are sown and grown into market-ready clams of various sizes. About 30,000 clams are planted under each of his 50-by-10-foot nets. The clams grow for 2 to 2 1/2 years until time to harvest.

     But Blanchard's work and product aren't widely known in the area. That's because most of the clams, from 1.5 million up to 3.5 million yearly, are put on an 18-wheeler truck that delivers them out of state. They wind up in restaurants and stores in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Chicago.

     Some Stella Maris clams are sold by area seafood markets, such as Simmons, Mount Pleasant, Huff's and Crosby's (Folly Beach location). Also, Lowcountry Lobster is a wholesaler.

     Blanchard is puzzled by clams' low profile with local consumers. Even though he's seen more and more local chefs using them, he thinks the retail potential is unrealized. "They really don't know about them," he figures.

     To illustrate, Blanchard says he and his wife give out bags of clams with recipes for Christmas presents. "People freak out" once they have them, he says. And, "if I bring them to an oyster roast, people eat them like popcorn."

     Blanchard's farm-raised clams range in size from a small "Pastaneck" to the midsized and best-selling "Littleneck," which measures 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick at the shell's hinge. (He does buys and sell some wild clams that are larger.)

     Once they are harvested and purged, the clams are taken to Blanchard's base of operations, Crosby's Seafood on Folly Road. There they're sorted by size into bags by specially designed machines.

     Mitchell Crosby, whose sisters own Crosby's, is an event planner who often uses the picturesque dock there as a stage for corporate and private parties where "real" Lowcountry cuisine is a main attraction. As a native and lover of Charleston culture, he has a bead on what locals like to eat.

     Crosby theorizes that folks were turned off in the past by large clams that were readily available, but tough and chewy. Now farm-raised clams provide smaller sizes that are more tender and versatile for cooking.

"Until the clamming industry started here, the only thing we did with them was chop them up for chowder," he says.

     He also thinks that new people in the area aren't aware of local clams and clam farming. "Your Northern client doesn't realize they're fresh (here). So education is needed on both sides."

     One chef who is winning over converts is Barry Waldrop, owner of True Charleston Cuisine catering. When time permits, Waldrop also opens his catering shop in James Island's Riverland Terrace to dinner patrons.

     Waldrop says since putting clams on the menu every night, people are calling to ask specifically for them. But it took a little convincing.

     "I've found that if I present clams in an attractive dish and if I describe it in a colorful way, they sell like hotcakes. But people need that little 'umph.' "

     His most popular dish for wedding parties is a colorful, clam-studded Lowcountry Paella (recipe follows). "People just love it."

     One of his personal favorites is a dish he created, Clams "Barisimo." It's ziti pasta with clams, fresh spinach and a cream sauce flavored with a bit of fresh rosemary and Gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese. Waldrop says that while it may seem like an unlikely combination, it's a "marriage made in heaven."

Waldrop's Recipes

     For the paella, "I prefer to prepare this dish in my grandmother's heavy black iron skillet," Waldrop says.

Uncle "B's" Lowcountry Paella

Cooked rice (see cook's note)
Bottled clam juice
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cooked
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, cooked
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 each: medium red, yellow and green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed and cut into strips about 1/2-inch wide
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups sweet baby peas, canned or frozen
12 dozen fresh baby clams
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley

Cook's note: Prepare 6 to 8 servings of rice of your choice according to package directions, but substitute bottled clam juice for the water. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads before cooking the rice.

Bake sausage and chicken until fully cooked, at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes. (Can be done a day ahead of time). Cut into 1-inch pieces. Save any pan drippings from the baking.

Heat olive oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion and all bell peppers, basil and garlic. Cook until tender. Add tomatoes; cook 5 minutes more.

Add cooked chicken and sausage and pan drippings to onion and pepper mixture. Stir in the cooked rice and sweet baby peas and then add raw clams in shells.

Combine all ingredients in an ovenproof skillet and cover with lid or heavy foil. Cook 15-30 minutes on 375 degrees or until clams pop open. Add salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle paprika over the top. Garnish with parsley. To serve, place skillet on hot pad in the middle of the table "go at it."

Serves 6-8.

Clams "Barisimo"

2 dozen baby clams
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 cups bottled clam juice
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh chopped spinach
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups cooked ribbed ziti pasta
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Rinse clams. Place in cold water with 2 tablespoons of salt until clams release sand, about 30 minutes. Rinse clams thoroughly.

Place raw clams in large pan and add bottled clam juice, garlic and spinach. Steam 5 to 10 minutes until all clams are open.

Add heavy cream and cook another 5 to 10 minutes. Add cooked pasta, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Let cook 3 to 5 minutes Place in serving bowl and garnish with Gorgonzola cheese and parsley.

For a lighter alternative: Omit heavy cream and add an extra cup of clam juice, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of white wine to the clams, garlic and spinach. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, then add cooked pasta, rosemary and salt and pepper. Let cook 3 to 5 minutes more. Place in serving bowl and garnish with Gorgonzola cheese and parsley.

Clam chowder is a crowd-pleaser any time of year. Waldrop's version is enhanced by sweet corn and roasted red pepper.

Sweet Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Clam Chowder

4 pounds medium-size, hard-shell clams
1 cup bottled clam juice
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen sweet corn
2 cups of fresh roasted sweet red peppers or 1 (12-ounce) jar of roasted red peppers
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 medium new potatoes cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste
1/4 cup fried crisp bacon, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Rinse clams thoroughly. Put them in a sink and cover with cold water. Stir in 1/2 cup of salt; let it sink in so clams can lose their sand, about 30 minutes. Rinse clams thoroughly in a colander.

Put clams in a large soup pot; add 1 cup bottled clam juice. Cover and steam on high heat until clams are completely open, 5 to 10 minutes. Only use clams that open.

Take all liquid from the pot and pour through a fine cheesecloth. Save the strained juice. When the clams have cooled, remove the meat from the shells and chop into small pieces.

In a medium-size heavy pot, cook onion, celery, corn, roasted red peppers and garlic in butter until tender. Add reserved clam juice and potatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender. Add chopped clams. Add heavy cream and cook over medium heat 5 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with bacon, parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4 to 6.

Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at 937-4886 or e-mail ttaylor@postandcourier.com.

Reprinted by permission of The Post and Courier newspaper