Innovative Gourmet Flavor Combinations: Ameijoas na Cataplana

Innovative Gourmet Flavor Combinations

Welcome! I've always enjoyed unusual flavor combinations. I am committed to continuing this pleasure, while eating healthy. I hope this blog will allow me to share ideas for eating healthy without losing the excitement of innovative recipes.

I am a follower of the diet plan of Dr. Eric Berg, which in my case means gluten-free, alkaline, low-fat; my health and figure have improved vastly with this. This also fits with raw-food, vegetarian, and Weston Price (nutrient-dense), D'Adamo's Eat Right For Your Type, the Perricone Weightloss Diet, and the proportions follow Barry Sears's 40-30-30 Zone Diet. Organic, ecologic, and local-eating are also guiding principles. (Interesting how they all overlap.)

But looking around the Net, and in books, a lot of what's offered for "gluten-free" eating is versions of baked goods, and imitations of wheat dishes like pizza and burritos. You won't find that here. This site will present a complete re-thinking of how to be "gluten-free".

And followers of chef Michael Roberts and khymos, as well as lovers of Japanese creativeness (as in Iron Chef) should also find gourmet ideas here. The recipes will not just echo American cooking, but present new combinations.

Some of the reasons for this way of eating are: autism, perhaps aspergers, "celiac disease", obesity, perhaps cancer and who knows what else. You won't find the word "disease" used here though. As D'Adamo explains, a large part of the world's population (mostly with "O-blood type") never got the genes to adapt to eating the new foods of wheat, etc that came into the diet during the Neolithic. So don't call it a disease! We are actually an older human type. We're not sick; we just don't have that new-fangled adaption that some folks have. And looking into traditional diets shows that much of the world did not have wheat until very recently, and got along just fine. I know I'm eating quite well. I don't miss gluten at all.

Enough! Welcome to my kitchen . . .

Monday, June 22, 2009

Ameijoas na Cataplana - from Portugal

Spanish cooking is innovative, although I'd still vote Japan, Italy, and Portugal at the top, so I have to add a scrumptious Portuguese dish:

Ameijoas na Cataplana

STEAMED CLAMS WITH SAUSAGES, HAM. TOMATOES AND SPICES

To serve 4 as a main course, 6 as a first course

A very quick dish to make.

1/2 pound linguica sausage or substitute chonzo or other garlic-seasoned smoked pork sausage

1/2 cup olive oil

4 medium-sized onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon crushed hot dried red pepper

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 pound presunto ham, finely chopped, or substitute prosciutto or other lean smoked ham

2 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

2 small bay leaves, crumbled

36 small hard-shelled clams, washed and thoroughly scrubbed - or two 10-ounce cans of clams

With a small, sharp knife, remove the casings of the sausages. Crumble the meat coarsely and drop it into a sieve. Plunge the sieve into a pan ot boiling water and boil briskly for 1 minute. Then spread the sausage meat out on a double thickness of paper towels to drain.

In a heavy 12-inch skillet or similar-sized casserole, heat the olive oil over moderate heat until a light haze forms above it. Add the onions and, stirring frequently, cook for 5 minutes, or until they are soft and transparent but not brown. Add the paprika, red pepper and a liberal grinding of black pepper and cook for a minute or two. Then add the sausage meat, ham. tomatoes, parsley, wine, garlic and bay leaves, raise the heat and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook briskly until most of the liquid in the pan evaporates.

Arrange the clams hinged side down over the meat and tomato mixture, cover the skillet tightly and cook over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, or until all the clams open. Discard any that remain closed. To serve, transfer the clams to heated soup plates and ladle the sauce over them.

This dish is better the longer it sits, and the next day.