Keep Clam and Carry On

for a little Labor Day celebration we headed to Anacortes to relax with friends and keep up with the tradition of "living off the land". It was a great time, and we ate almost exclusively stuff that we foraged: crabs, clams, crawfish and berries (blackberry pie recipe to come), and it was fantastic. The first night we had a 15-crab feast, which we ate almost all of, we used the leftovers for crab dip the next day. The second night, after cleaning buckets and buckets of clams, we had a clam linguine with tomatoes, basil and lemon. Here are some labor of love recipes. 

crab feast and laughter.

cooking the crawfish.

linguine with clams and other goodness.

Crab Dip
5 garlic cloves chopped, and cooked in a little olive oil
1/2-1 cup crab
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup cheese (we used Brie and mozzarella)
Paprika for sprinkling on top


Mix all ingredients, minus the paprika, in an oven-safe bowl or baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes in a in a 350 degree oven. Serve with French bread or crackers.


Linguine with Clams, Lemon and Tomatoes
Salt
1 pound linguine (I used Trader Joes chive and another cracked pepper flavor)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1-2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup (10 or 12 leaves) fresh basil, very thinly sliced
1 cup of cleaned clams, cut into bite-sized pieces

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop the pasta into the pot. Heat a large deep skillet over low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.

When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemon juice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the wine to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble, and cook until wine has reduced a bit.  Add clams.

Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add lemon zest and half of the cheese to the sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss the pasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce. Add the herbs and toss.

Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese.

living off the land, a labor of love

Labor day weekend marks the best weekend of the year to live off the bounty of the land. this is because all laborers take a break, and no one is around to cook your meals and wait on you hand and foot. to commemorate this day we caught a few crabs, Dan caught a salmon and then we ate what we caught.


the prize-winning salmon

if you extend your arm so that the fish is closer to the camera, it makes the fish look bigger. that's why this fish looks so huge.

crabs from the crab pots

crabs cooking in a pot on the BBQ

LEMON DILL SALMON

Sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. worcesterschire

juice of half a lemon

2 tsp. dried dill

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Mix all of these ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

for the fish:

olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1-2 lbs. salmon fillets

salt and pepper

juice of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After you've prepared the sauce, drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a glass baking dish, and cover with sliced onions. Place salmon fillets on the bed of onions, salt and pepper fish, and then cover fish with the juice of half a lemon. Spread the salmon with a light layer of the sauce mix, and then sprinkle with additional dill for garnish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until fish is opaque. Serve fish alongside the baked onions.