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00:04Cook's Country is about more than just getting dinner on the table.
00:09We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.
00:14We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook.
00:20And we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.
00:25We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.
00:31This is Cook's Country.
00:37Today on Cook's Country, Ashley makes a party favorite, Clams Casino.
00:43And Brian and I make a flavorful seafood risotto.
00:47That's all right here on Cook's Country.
01:01Clams Casino is a classic New England appetizer.
01:04It's little neck clams topped with butter, bacon, bell peppers, and breadcrumbs that run under the broiler.
01:11And today, Ashley is going to show us how they're made.
01:13You bet I am.
01:14So with all of those elements, it's really important for this recipe to cook each item individually
01:19so that they're going to be the perfect version of themselves at the end of the recipe.
01:23That makes sense because bacon, bell peppers, and clams do not cook at the same rate.
01:27Exactly.
01:28So first, I've got two tablespoons of melted butter here over medium heat in this 12-inch nonstick skillet.
01:34And I have a three-quarter cup of panko breadcrumbs, which, as you know, are the Japanese breadcrumbs, really coarse
01:40in texture.
01:41I'm actually toasting the breadcrumbs here because we're going to be able to control their doneness and their brownness here
01:47as opposed to the end of the recipe.
01:50All right, Julia, so check out that color.
01:51That is a perfect golden brown.
01:53I'd say so myself.
01:55So now I'm going to add some aromatics.
01:57I've got some garlic and some thyme because we're going to be packing each element of this recipe with as
02:02much flavor as possible.
02:04So that's three cloves of garlic.
02:05And then I have a good amount of thyme.
02:07I have one tablespoon of minced fresh thyme.
02:10And you just want to let this cook for about 30 seconds just until you can smell it.
02:14I can definitely smell everything there.
02:16I'm going to take it off the heat.
02:18And now the final step here for the breadcrumbs is to add some minced fresh parsley.
02:22I have a quarter cup here.
02:25All right, so I'm going to take these breadcrumbs and just leave them in this plate just to hang out
02:30until later on.
02:32In the meantime, I'm just going to just wipe out the skillet because we're going to be using this again
02:36to cook the clams.
02:39Now let's talk about our clams.
02:41These are the star of the show today.
02:44These are beauties.
02:44Aren't they?
02:45So these are little nut clams.
02:46For this recipe, you want 36 clams in total, which is usually between three and a half to four and
02:51a half pounds.
02:52And when you're at the seafood counter, just look for clams that are about one and a half to two
02:56and a half inches wide.
02:58That's going to ensure that they all cook at the same rate.
03:01So these now are going to go hang out in our nonstick skillet for a little bit.
03:05I'm just going to add them.
03:07So I'm going to put this over medium-high heat.
03:09And now I'm going to add some dry white wine.
03:12This is a half a cup.
03:14So I'm going to pop this lid on here.
03:16You want to have a really nice fitted lid for this recipe.
03:20Now you want to go in there after about four minutes just to check to see if any of the
03:23clams have opened.
03:24But it can take up to ten minutes in total for all of them to open.
03:28And you want to go in there and just kind of shake the pan every once in a while just
03:31to ensure all of them get cooked properly.
03:34Okay.
03:35Okay, Juliette, some of the clams have opened.
03:39Some of them haven't, and that's totally normal.
03:41That's why we have a good range for this recipe.
03:44And any of the ones that have opened, it's time for them to get out of their wine bath.
03:50I love a wine bath.
03:52Their wine hot tub.
03:54All right, I'll pop the lid back on just to see if that helps to get them to open.
03:58Oh, look at that.
03:59Bing bong.
04:02The last rebel.
04:03Yep.
04:04Oh.
04:04There we go.
04:06Nicely done.
04:07Nicely done, everybody.
04:10All right, so let's set this aside because we're going to let these cool.
04:14Now I have a fine mesh strainer, and I did line this with a coffee filter because you want to
04:18trap any grit or sand that was still hanging on in those clams.
04:22You're going to trap it right here.
04:24We're going to be using this broth throughout the recipe.
04:27So I'm going to pour this through.
04:29And again, essentially, this is just all that clam juice, all that briny, seafoody flavors with the white wine.
04:37Delicious.
04:38Yeah, no.
04:39So you want to strain this out.
04:42All right, so I'm going to pop this in the fridge to cool it down for about 15 minutes.
04:45And again, you want to let the clams cool as well until they're cool enough to handle.
04:49Okay.
04:50Let's cook some bacon.
04:51I've got this nonstick skillet again.
04:52We're going to use it for the third time.
04:54Now I have six slices of bacon that I went ahead and chopped.
04:58So I'm going to let this go for about seven to ten minutes over medium heat until lightly brown.
05:04All right, so it's been seven to ten minutes, and as you can see, the bacon is beginning to brown.
05:09Now it's time to add bell pepper.
05:11I've got half of a green bell pepper that I finally chopped here.
05:14We found that we really love the contrast of the bell pepper with the smokiness of the bacon and the
05:19garlicky breadcrumbs.
05:20And then I'm also going to add a couple shallots that I went ahead and minced.
05:24This is two shallots in total.
05:26I'm going to cook this for about two to five minutes until the pepper and the shallots are beginning to
05:31soften.
05:32The vegetables have softened, so it's time to add our reserved broth mixture from earlier.
05:38So this is about a half a cup, and if you don't have a half a cup that comes once
05:42you strain it,
05:42you want to just add a little bit of extra dry white wine to bring it up to the half
05:46cup mark.
05:46Okay, so I'm going to add this, bring this to a vigorous simmer, and cook until almost dry, which should
05:51take three to five minutes.
05:53So as you can see, we are almost dry here.
05:56All right, I'm going to turn the heat off.
05:57So I'm going to transfer this to this bowl.
06:00This mixture just needs to cool down before we stuff the clams.
06:04So I'm going to pop this in the fridge for 15 minutes.
06:07Okay.
06:08It's been 15 minutes.
06:09This bacon mixture is nice and cool to the touch.
06:12So I'm going to add some softened butter.
06:14I've got eight tablespoons more butter here.
06:18Now this is what you want it to look like when it's all fully mashed.
06:22It looks gorgeous.
06:23Very appetizing.
06:24It will be, though, I promise.
06:25So let's head downtown here.
06:28Downtown.
06:29Downtown.
06:30I've got some foil, obviously.
06:32The clams are going to bake on this room baking sheet.
06:35Now I'm going to crumple this foil because it's going to give the clams a stable spot for them to
06:39sit while they're in the oven.
06:41Okay.
06:46All right.
06:47Now I was wondering, can you give me a hand?
06:50Because we need to remove the clam meat from each clam shell.
06:54I'd be happy to.
06:55All right.
06:55I found it best just to twist off one half.
06:58Okay.
06:59We don't need this.
07:00Okay.
07:00Bye-bye.
07:01Now with a paring knife, you could also use your fingers or a cocktail fork.
07:06You want to just go in there and separate the meat from the shell.
07:12Okay.
07:13And that is only going to ensure that it's easier to eat.
07:18Last two.
07:19Mm-hmm.
07:20And now it's time to assemble.
07:24So we've got the butter mixture.
07:26Now what I would love your help with, topping each clam, what you're going to do is grab a scant
07:32two teaspoons per clam.
07:34Okay.
07:35And you want to make sure you get all the good stuff in one spoon.
07:38And just go through and top the clam.
07:41But the trick here is making sure that the butter is nice and flat so that it doesn't go into
07:47the pan.
07:48All that goodness stays in the shell.
07:49Okay.
07:50Melts down around the clam.
07:52Mm-hmm.
07:52All right.
07:53So you said scant two teaspoons?
07:55All right.
07:58Nicely done.
08:00All right.
08:01Mm-mm.
08:03All right.
08:03Final step before these go in the oven.
08:05We need to top the clams with the breadcrumb mixture.
08:10Now, because we work so hard to get all that flavor in there, you don't want the sheet pan to
08:15have any of it.
08:16You want to really get in there and top each clam.
08:21Take a few extra seconds here because it is worth it.
08:25You're really focusing the pinch on top of the clam.
08:28It sticks right to the butter.
08:30Mm-hmm.
08:30Oh, those are gorgeous.
08:32Now, these are going to go one final step before eating into a preheated 450-degree oven.
08:37Oven rack is at the upper middle position.
08:40And these are only going to hang out in there for about five minutes.
08:44Okay.
08:44Well, that's not very long, but that makes sense because the clams have already been par-cooked.
08:48So you didn't want to overcook them in the oven.
08:50Exactly.
08:51And don't forget the breadcrumb topping, already golden brown.
08:53Okay.
08:53Five minutes.
08:54Five minutes.
09:03I smell them.
09:04Mm-hmm.
09:06Oh, Ashley, they're gorgeous.
09:08Good.
09:09Yum.
09:10All right.
09:14Oh, yes.
09:15Oh.
09:17Table for two.
09:18Yes.
09:19Seriously.
09:20Those are beauties.
09:21Let's dig in then.
09:22All right.
09:22Let's do it.
09:26I'm going to start with three.
09:27Ooh.
09:29I would love a little lemon.
09:31All right.
09:31Very much.
09:32Nothing like clams and lemon.
09:34Oh, yeah.
09:36Oh.
09:38Mm-hmm.
09:48The clam is perfectly cooked, and the white wine adds a nice zing, and you get the bell
09:55peppers, the bacon, and, of course, the butter.
09:58Mm-hmm.
09:59And they're briny.
10:00Mm-hmm.
10:01They taste like they just came out of the sea.
10:02Mm-hmm.
10:03So good.
10:04The toasted breadcrumbs have that good crunch.
10:07Thank goodness you par-cooked them.
10:08Mm-hmm.
10:09Ashley, these are awesome.
10:12You're very welcome.
10:13If you want to make this classic New England appetizer, toast and season the breadcrumbs.
10:18Cook the clams and white wine until just opened, then stuff with a flavorful butter, and finish
10:24in the hot oven.
10:25From Cook's Country, a terrific recipe for Clams Casino.
10:30We're going to need a bigger boat.
10:32Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
10:34Ha, ha, ha, ha.
10:35Ha, ha, ha, ha.
10:41Risotto is one of those delicious rice dishes that you can adapt with almost any flavors,
10:45whether your favorites are asparagus or mushrooms or whatever you prefer.
10:50And Brian is here. He's going to show us a few tricks for making a seafood risotto.
10:55Yeah, I love risotto. And on its surface, it's a very simple, straightforward recipe.
10:59Usually just rice and liquid, but there's a lot of technique involved.
11:03You know, you want to get that perfect, creamy texture and nice al dente bite to the rice kernels.
11:07And if you add seafood to the mix, now you have two things you're trying to perfect.
11:11The texture of the seafood, the texture of the rice, and of course, the overall flavor.
11:15So speaking of flavor, we are going to start with a flavor base of our risotto, and that is fennel.
11:21We are going to start with a full fennel bulb.
11:23So you can see we have fronds, we have stalks, and we have the core.
11:27We're going to start by removing these fronds.
11:31And we're going to cut these up, and we're going to use these as a bit of a garnish later
11:35on in the risotto.
11:36So we're looking for about a quarter cup of the fronds.
11:38So we'll just give those a coarse chop.
11:42All right, and now we're going to remove our stalks of the fennel here, and this is going to end
11:46up in our stalk.
11:49So we can remove these loose bits of fronds.
11:53Don't really have to be too particular about this.
11:56And we're going to cut these stalks into about two-inch pieces, and that will end up in our seafood
12:02stock.
12:03And then finally, we have our fennel bulb.
12:06And we want to remove the core.
12:08I like to take the paring knife, grab the blade like this, have my thumb about a half-inch, three
12:12-quarter-inch up from the tip of the blade,
12:14and just go in at about a 45-degree angle, and just kind of rotate like that.
12:22We're going to look for a small dice on this, about a quarter of an inch.
12:25Does that size really matter?
12:26We don't want it to be eating the risotto and have big chunks of fennel.
12:29So this will be about the same size as the onion we add later.
12:33We'll just cut it into little sticks there.
12:35Okay, so now we're just going to line all this up and give it a nice chop here.
12:40Looking for something small, about a quarter of an inch or so.
12:45All right, so that's about a cup of fennel.
12:50Now we can focus on our seafood.
12:52So we have three different types of seafood here.
12:53We have shrimp, mussels, and squid.
12:56All right, with the shrimp, we're going to peel and vein these.
13:00Take the knife, I invert the knife so the blade is facing up.
13:02Now hold the shrimp and just kind of run it down the vein, which loosens the shell.
13:10And squeeze the tail.
13:14And if you have a vein, just use your knife and pull it out.
13:18Okay, and we want to cut this shrimp into three-quarter inch pieces.
13:23Then we have two pounds of mussels here.
13:27Mussels contribute a ton of flavor.
13:30We're going to use these as a basis for our stock, because there's a lot of juice inside these things.
13:34So we want to remove the beards from these.
13:37So that's a little hairy piece.
13:38It's how the mussels attach to the rope or the rocks when they're growing.
13:42And then finally, we're going to use some squid.
13:45Squid is one of those ingredients that we don't use very often here in the test kitchen.
13:50But it is one of those things that packs a ton of flavor.
13:53It's really interesting.
13:53It's very affordable.
13:54We always find it in the frozen food section.
13:56And it just adds a lot of texture to this risotto.
13:59So we want to take the bodies and we want to cut them into quarter-inch rings.
14:03And this is just frozen?
14:05Yep.
14:07And then the tentacles, we just want to split those in half.
14:10They have a little base there.
14:12Just split those in half.
14:16So there's all our seafood, our fennel is prepped.
14:19I'm just going to wash up and we'll make our stock.
14:21Okay.
14:22All right, we're going to make our stock now.
14:24So we have four tablespoons of unsalted butter that we've melted here.
14:28And we're going to throw our shrimp shells in there.
14:31We'll put them in here.
14:33We'll let them cook for about three minutes or so until you start to toast up nicely.
14:38All right, Tony, you can see that these shrimp shells have darkened in color.
14:41You can really smell that aroma.
14:44Toasty shrimp.
14:45So now we're going to add our fennel stalks.
14:49A cup of white wine.
14:51This is a dry white wine.
14:53And then our two pounds of mussels.
15:00Now, that wine's already come to a boil because the pot was so hot.
15:02So we're going to cover this and let it go for about five minutes until those mussels start to pop
15:07open.
15:08All right, it's been about five minutes.
15:09Let's take a look at our mussels.
15:11Oh, aren't they gorgeous?
15:11See, they've all popped open.
15:13So I'm going to kill the heat on this.
15:15Right now, we're going to pull all the mussels out of here.
15:21And you can see now how much more liquid we have in the pot than when we started.
15:25Yeah.
15:26That's what the mussels contributed.
15:27They're adding something to this part of here.
15:30They didn't come empty-handed.
15:32Now, at this point, we're going to add seven cups of water to this.
15:39We're going to crank the heat back up.
15:41Bring it to a boil.
15:42When it hits a boil, we're going to reduce the heat to low, put a lid on it, and let
15:45it simmer for 10 minutes.
15:46Only 10 minutes.
15:47We found that simmering shrimp shells any longer than 10 minutes doesn't really draw any more flavor out of it.
15:53Okay.
15:53Okay, so while that's coming to a boil, we want to find eight ideal, perfect-looking mussels in this shell.
16:00And we're going to use these as a garnish for our finished risotto.
16:03So, two, three, okay, and that is eight.
16:08And then we can just hold those off to the side, and we'll use those as a garnish for our
16:11finished risotto.
16:12And now we can take the rest of these mussels, and we're just going to pop them out of their
16:16shells.
16:19And these are going to be the mussels that we stir into the risotto.
16:23And, Tony, our stock has been simmering for 10 minutes.
16:26We'll kill the heat on that.
16:28Oh, you can just smell it.
16:30Oh, yeah.
16:31It smells buttery, buttery seafood.
16:33And then we're going to drain it right through this fine-mesh strainer here into a bowl.
16:40And then we're going to add our stock back to our saucepan.
16:46You know, we'll put this on the back burner.
16:48It smells great.
16:50Cover it and put it on low just to keep it warm.
16:54All right, then here in this Dutch oven, we have four tablespoons of butter we're melting over medium heat.
17:00And to that, we're going to add our chopped fennel, a cup of chopped onion, and a teaspoon of table
17:10salt.
17:12And we're just going to cook this until the vegetables become translucent.
17:15So we're going to throw a lid on it and let it go just for about five minutes.
17:22All right, Tony, it's been about six minutes.
17:23As you can see, our vegetables are nice and translucent.
17:26And to that, we're going to add three cloves of garlic that have been minced, along with two tablespoons of
17:33tomato paste.
17:34The tomato paste is really in there to kind of bump the umami quotient and also give it a little
17:39bit of a light red hue.
17:40So we'll cook this for about a minute until that garlic really becomes fragrant.
17:47All right, so our garlic is very fragrant.
17:50Our tomato paste is incorporated.
17:51And at this point, we're going to add our squid.
17:53So you can treat squid two ways.
17:55You can cook it hot and fast, or you have to simmer it for a little while to make it
17:59tender.
17:59So we're opting to simmer it for a little while and make it more tender.
18:03And it's also going to contribute a lot of flavor.
18:05So we're going to add it to the pot, stir it in, and we're going to cook this for about
18:08three minutes until a little bit of fun begins to form on the bottom of the pot and the squid
18:13starts to kind of shrivel up a little bit.
18:17All right, so it's been a good three minutes.
18:19Now you can see how the squid has really changed texture.
18:23It's more opaque.
18:24It's almost like these little rubber bands.
18:27So that's going to get really tender as it cooks.
18:30And at this point, we could add our rice.
18:32We have two cups of arborio rice.
18:35So we're going to add that.
18:36And we're going to stir that just to coat the grains evenly with all the fat and the tomato paste
18:43and all that flavor that's in the pot.
18:46And we're going to cook this for a couple minutes until we start to see the edges of the rice
18:49turn translucent.
18:51So it's been about two minutes.
18:53You can see there's a little bit of fun beginning to form on the bottom of the pot.
18:57The aromas are starting to change.
18:58It's a little bit more roasted.
19:00That squid, the garlic, everything's starting to kind of evolve a little bit.
19:05So now we're going to add a cup of dry white wine.
19:08And we're going to let it cook for a couple of minutes until the rice fully absorbs the wine.
19:13And while that's going on, I'm going to take some of our seafood broth.
19:18I'm going to measure out about five cups.
19:23All right, you see the rice is now fully absorbed, all the wine.
19:26And this is the moment where we sort of diverge from the classic method, which is you would typically add
19:32a little bit of stock, stir it into the rice, let it cook until the rice fully absorbs the stock,
19:38add a little bit more, and just repeat that over and over again.
19:41What we're going to do is we're going to add the majority of our stock up front.
19:44Whoa.
19:45It's crazy, right?
19:46You weren't prepared for this.
19:48What we're going to do is we're going to stir pretty aggressively towards the end so we get that creaminess.
19:53But at this point, we're really just focused on getting the rice about 80% of the way there.
19:58So we're going to add two and a half teaspoons of table salt to this as well.
20:02We're going to cook this for about 20 minutes.
20:04And once it comes to a simmer, we're going to reduce the heat to medium low.
20:07And over the next 20 to 22 minutes, we'll stir the rice every three minutes.
20:12All right, Tony, our risotto has been simmering for about 20 minutes.
20:14And you can see if we drag a spoon through it, it leaves a trail that fills in slowly.
20:18And that's exactly what we're looking for.
20:20So at this point, we're going to add another cup of our broth.
20:24This is a half cup of ladle, so we'll add a couple of ladles here.
20:29And at this point, we're going to start stirring it constantly for the next three minutes.
20:34This is where we really bring out that creaminess of the rice.
20:38You can see that the texture of the risotto has really changed.
20:41It's nice and creamy.
20:42It looks like a real risotto, huh?
20:44It does.
20:44So I just want to taste and make sure that we're good with the al dente.
20:50A little bit of bite still on the rice.
20:53It's perfect.
20:53So at this point, we're going to add another four tablespoons of butter, our shrimp, our
21:02shelled mussels, two tablespoons of chopped parsley, and this is a quarter cup of fennel,
21:09so we'll use about half of it.
21:10These are our fennel fronds.
21:11And just stir this in for a minute until the butter is melted.
21:16Now that this is all incorporated, we're going to cover it, remove it from the heat, and we're
21:26going to let it sit for five minutes.
21:28And during that time, the shrimp is going to finish cooking nice and gently.
21:32The rice will kind of coast into a perfect doneness, and then we'll come back, season
21:36to taste, and adjust to the final consistency.
21:39All right, it's been five minutes.
21:40We'll take a look at our risotto.
21:43Okay, you see that the shrimp is nice and pink.
21:46It just smells wonderful.
21:48It's thickened up a little bit, too.
21:50Yep.
21:51So we want to have it a little bit looser than that, so we're going to add a little
21:55bit more of our warm broth.
21:58Kind of work that in.
22:00Oh my.
22:01It smells great.
22:02It's beautiful.
22:04Okay.
22:05Now we're ready to garnish.
22:06We'll take our eight mussels.
22:08We'll just jab them in there.
22:10So this is meant to bring the entire pot to the table.
22:13Impress your guests.
22:15And then our remaining two tablespoons of fennel fronds.
22:18We'll just hit over top.
22:20And I think we're ready to serve.
22:26A couple of mussels for you.
22:30Just gorgeous.
22:32Let's give a little squeeze of lemon over top.
22:36All right.
22:37Okay.
22:44Mmm.
22:46That's good, right?
22:47It's really good.
22:48Oh my God.
22:49You get that amazing texture where there's just a little bit of a bite in the rice, but
22:55it's still creamy, and the seafood comes through, that bright flavor.
23:00Yeah.
23:00Notice the texture of the squid, which is perfectly tender.
23:04So good.
23:05And that shrimp, too.
23:06Everything's perfectly cooked.
23:08And I love the way that that tomato paste, the subtlety of it.
23:11You don't even notice.
23:13Mm-hmm.
23:13And the same with the fennel, too.
23:14Mm-hmm.
23:14It all comes together really nicely.
23:16This was really great, Brian.
23:18Thank you so much for sharing this recipe today.
23:20You're very welcome.
23:20And for a creamy risotto that's easier to make, make your own seafood broth.
23:27Front load most of the broth in the rice, and stir every three minutes.
23:31And finally, top with mussels and herbs, and serve from the pot.
23:36From Cook's Country, a great recipe for seafood risotto.
23:40You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews,
23:45and select episodes, at our website, cookscountry.com slash tv.
23:53I cannot wait to make this at home.
23:55I'm so glad.
23:56It's really good.
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