Olive Oil!!!

Yesterday we had a very heavy box waiting for us in the mail.  I think I squealed out loud in excitement when I saw the label on the outside though!  Nudo, our Italian olive oil, had arrived at last.  Billy and I are both very hard to buy gifts for, but this year, for Christmas, my mother was very innovative.  She and my father "adopted" an olive tree for us in Italy, through a company called Nudo.  It's a great gift idea, and I highly recommend it.  We are able to log on to the Nudo website and see photos of our tree, read details  etc.  And in the spring, we receive a shipment of olive oil from the grove where our tree resides (they specify that it is not from our exact tree!).  You can have shipments sent every quarter, I believe, but there were some delays with the spring shipment so I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival.  We received three tins of the oil, which, as we learnt in Italy, is the best way to store olive oil.  Of course, we had to open one and try it.  It was  rich golden color and had a deliciously spicy afterbite. This oil is not for cooking with, but is definitely for pouring on fresh pasta, green salads, or just drinking from a spoon, as we did last night!  Yum!  

Thanks Mum and Dad!!

The box of goodies...

One of the tins of deliciousness

Three tins

E.V.O.O.

Pouring the first spoonful of deliciousness.

Yummy!

Kimba the white lion!

Our office in South Beach doesn't have a lot of people, technology or toys, but it does have the best puppy in the world.  Meet...Kimba.  He is named after Kimba the white lion and with his new haircut, he looks like a little lion.  He is hungry today so he has been barking a little, but usually he is the most quiet, well-behaved dog you could ask to be around.  So, I dedicate this post to Kimba, who has stolen a little piece of my heart! :)

The best spaghetti with clam sauce - ever!

Since I was still encountering technical difficulties uploading these photos, I decided to post this from my phone and then add in the text.  And wouldn't you know it, the photos uploaded in almost exactly the right order.  Yahoo!  Here's my attempt at a cooking photo shoot! :)

Step One - Assemble the ingredients. 

Wash the clams thoroughly - you want to avoid cooking any dirt into your cooking juices because you will use it later in the sauce!

Step Two - saute some shallots in olive oil.  Add fresh garlic.  When you smell the garlic, add liquid, quickly.  In this case, a cup or two of La Crema Chardonnay.  Only feed your clams wine you would want to drink yourself, according to Chef JP!

Then, add the clams!  I had to do this in two batches as I didn't have a pan that was big enough for all of the clams at once.  you want to do a single layer, so they can open up and absorb the juices!

Before they opened up... 

Step Three: Remove the clam meat and chop finely.  Reserve the cooking liquid - strained well to remove any grains of sand etc.

Step Four:  Okay, so I forgot to take step-by-step photos of making the sauce, but it followed the same basic steps - saute the shallots, add garlic, add wine, then let it all cook down.  Then you add chicken stock, WHITE worcestershire sauce (who even knew!), cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice.  Then add some of the reserved clam juice (although the recipe forgets to mention this!) and the heavy cream.  Let the sauce reduce and thicken and when ready, add the clams to the mixture, along with some fresh parsley and the cooked spaghetti.  Mix it all together and serve, topped with parmesan cheese and any extra parsley you may have  (I ALWAYS seem to have a ton of extra parsley when I cook with it!). 

And if you are lucky enough to have any left, serve with a glass of cold chardonnay!  Delicious.  You really should try this at home.  I have never been a huge fan of spaghetti in clam sauce, but this one is amazing.  And I am sure you could make it with a tin of clams if you had to, but I recommend trying the fresh ones.  I had never cooked with them before and it was surprisingly easy.  Plus the flavour was out of this world!!  Enjoy! 

Oh, and for anyone who IS interested in trying this at home, here is the recipe.  I doubled it as we meant to freeze some of the sauce, but it was so good, we ate it for the next few days and devoured it all!  Apologies for the sauce stains on the photograph and the terrible shadow!!