CLAMS IN DIJON BROTH (tartar sauce version)

Seattle chef Renee Erickson’s 2021 travel-themed cookbook Getaway features a recipe for manila clams cooked in a broth of Dijon mustard and white wine and finished with a sophisticated flourish of crème fraîche. If your local supply chain happens to be short on French dairy products, may we suggest a delicious alternative that you almost certainly can find: tartar sauce.

With the richness of cream and the tang of vinegar, it’s a good tweak to this already excellent recipe. Buy the book here for a taste of the classy original.

Manila clams from the Hood Canal with a glass of wild Nootka rose and fir tip cider.

Cooked at the source: Hama Hama Oyster Company (Lilliwaup, WA): March 10, 2022. Adrienne Anderson

• The basic idea

  Sauté sliced garlic in butter until it’s soft and translucent, then add a mixture of 4 parts white wine (or dry cider) and 1 part dijon mustard and boil off the alcohol for a few minutes.

  Add enough clams for your people (1 pound per person is a good baseline); cover and cook until all the clams open, discarding any that don’t. Remove the clams, stir in a few large spoonfuls of tartar sauce and some freshly ground pepper, and simmer until it’s somewhere between a broth and a sauce. Taste before adding any salt: the clams usually bring enough of their own.

  Serve with bread and a glass of whatever wine or cider you cooked the clams in.

• Ingredient list

  To serve 2 (as a lunch) or 4 (as a snack)

  • 4 tablespoons butter

  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced

  • 2 cups white wine or dry cider

  • 1/2 cup dijon mustard

  • 2 pounds manila clams, scrubbed to remove any sand and grit

  • freshly ground black pepper

  • 1/4 cup tartar sauce

  • bread to serve

• Steps

  1. Heat a large, wide, high-sided pot or pan over medium heat.

  2. Add 4 tablespoons butter and heat until it melts and the foamy bubbles subside.

  3. Add 4 cloves sliced garlic and cook until soft and transulcent.

  4. Stir together 2 cups white wine or dry cider and 1/2 cup dijon mustard.

  5. Add the wine-dijon mixture to the pan and boil to remove the alcohol, about 3 minutes.

  6. Add 2 pounds scrubbed manila clams and cover the pot with a lid or sheet tray.

  7. Cook until all of the clams open, 2-5 minutes, and discard any that don’t.

  8. Remove the clams to a serving bowl, leaving the liquid in the pot.

  9. Add 1/4 cup tartar sauce and continue simmering until the broth thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.

  10. Season generously with freshly ground pepper; taste for salt and add if desired (you probably won’t need it).

  11. Serve with bread to sop up the sauce.