Sam's Place: July 2021

Little Neck Clams and Linguine

Enjoy this fine dining dish of Littleneck clams and Linguine right in your own home. Most people would think you can only enjoy this dish in a fine Italian restaurant. Well, that is not true, this is so easy to make at home, I know you can do it.

This elegant dish is made with creamy garlic, and white wine sauce, you'll wonder what took you so long to try it.

We recently vacationed in Folly Beach South Carolina. In Folly Beach you will find Crosby's Fish and Shrimp Co. We stopped there one day and picked up six dozen fresh littleneck clams. We steamed them with white wine, butter, and garlic. We served these with butter and crusty bread, and they were so delicious.

After our vacation, I couldn't wait to pick up some littleneck clams and serve them with linguine. You can find littleneck clams at your local grocery store.

Preparing the Clams:

I bought 100 littleneck clams, we severed half of them with the linguine and the other half with just butter and some hot sauce.

The first thing you need to do is rinse the clams to remove any sand. Discard any of the calms that are opened or cracked. Then, soak them in a large bowl with tap water and some sea salt for 20 minutes.

Ingredients for Linguine and Clams:

1 lb. of linguine

2 shallots chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

3 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoon butter divided

1 cup white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

40 to 50 littleneck clams

Instructions:

Start the water for the linguine.

In a large skillet ( with a lid) I used my 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Heat the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter, add the shallots and garlic. Cook this for about one minute until tender.
Add the wine and lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
Add the clams and top with parsley and cover. Steam for about 8 to 10 minutes until the clams open.
Drain the pasta (do not rinse the pasta) and add it to the skillet. If the skillet is too crowded remove some of the clams. Add the remaining butter and mix. Discard any clams that do not open.

The buttery garlic and wine sauce was a perfect choice for this Little Neck Clams and Linguine dish. This recipe easily satisfied four people and is so easy to prepare.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it!

Lodge 12

Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings

I have been wanting to try my hand at smoked chicken wings. I picked up a package of wings at our local grocery store. These spicy smoked chicken wings were a hit with the family.

They turned out to be juicy and full of flavor with just the right amount of heat. I smoked these wings the same day that I smoked 2 racks of Honey Bourbon Smoked Ribs.

I used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and added the wings to my Char-Griller Smokin Champ in the last 90 minutes of the smoke. While the ribs were smoking I prepared the wings.

First I made a marinade for the wings. I placed the wings in 2 one-gallon zip lock bags and poured in the marinade, closed the bags, and mixed. I placed these in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Spicy Smoked Chicken Wing Marinade:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

3 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Penzeys Galena Street Rib and Chicken Rub (can be omitted)

I smoked the wings between 250 to 290 degrees for 90 minutes. I used hickory wood splits as my heat source. The internal temperature of the wings was 165 to 170 degrees. These were whole wings, I could have split them but I didn't bother. After they were smoked they pulled apart easily.

Before serving I made a hot sauce to toss them in. In a large bowl, I melted 1/2 cup butter (one stick), mixed it with 1 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce, and 1 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper. I placed the wings in the bowl covered them and tossed them until they were coated.

These wings turned out great, they were spicy, juicy inside with just the right amount of heat. If you don't like medium or hot wings just skip the last step.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed it.

Honey Bourbon Smoked Ribs

These honey bourbon smoked ribs were fall off the bone delicious. I also smoked some chicken legs and wings, but that will be another post.

I started with two racks of center-cut ribs that I picked up from our local grocery store. After removing the silver skin from the backside, I seasoned them with sugar-free Rib Rack BBQ Rub on both sides then, put them in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

I fired up my Char-Griller Smokin Champ off-set smoker and brought the temperature up to about 250 degrees. I used the 3-2-1 method to smoke these ribs. I find that this is the best method for juicy fall off the bone ribs.

The 3-2-1 Rib Smoking Method:

I set the ribs in the smoker and monitored the temperature with my ThremoPro TP-20. Keeping the temperature between 225 and 290 degrees using charcoal and hickory wood splits as my heat source. They remained in the smoker for 3 hours only opening the lid to spray apple juice every hour.

After 3 hours I removed the ribs from the smoker to wrap them in tin foil. Tearing off two sheets of tin foil long enough to make sure there is plenty of room to wrap. I made a line in the center of the foil, with generous amounts of brown sugar, honey, butter, and last but not least bourbon. I placed them meat side down and then repeated the same ingredients on the backside of the ribs.

Carefully wrapping them to create a packet so the juice does not leak, I placed them back in the smoker meat side down for 2 hours.

After 2 hours I removed them from the foil. Placed them back in the smoker meat side up for the last hour. I bushed on Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce twice in the last hour.

The results were amazing, the meat was juicy and fall off the bone and that is just the way I like them.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it!