Good experiments (and bad)

So, to make up for the disappointing dinner disaster from last night, I hoped my lunch today would be better.  Let's start with last night.

Linguine and Clams with Tomato-Fennel Salad

I was really quite excited about it.  It sounded like an update on a recipe that my mom has cooked all my life, which is a linguine and clams with a lemon-garlic sauce.  On Saturday, she and I went to Soulard Market, and bought, among other things, fresh fennel.  Last night, home late from picking out fabric for a baby quilt for my cousin and critiquing my aunts new kitchen color scheme, I must have fallen back into my impatient cook mode, and that's probably why this meal didn't work so well.

• 2 cups chopped seeded tomatoes (about 4 large)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel bulb
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
• 1/2 teaspoon (packed) grated orange peel

• 2 cups dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 30 littleneck clams, scrubbed

• 12 ounces linguine

Combine tomatoes, chopped fennel, red onion, basil, olive oil and orange peel in medium bowl. Season salsa with salt and pepper.


Bring wine, fennel seeds, salt and garlic to boil in very large pot. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Add clams. Increase heat to high, cover and cook until clams open, about 7 minutes (discard any clams that do not open.) Using slotted spoon, transfer clams to bowl. Strain clam cooking liquid through fine strainer; return to same pot. Boil until liquid is reduced to 1 2/3 cups, about 7 minutes. Add tomato salsa and bring to simmer. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, cook linguine in large pot with tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper; toss to blend. Add clams; stir over medium heat until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Just realized I skipped a step: simmering the salsa in the cooking liquid.  THAT would be why it had no flavor...  Le sigh.  That's what happens when you're impatient.

So for lunch today, I sauted some fresh veggies and dill, toasted my favorite nut bread, mixed some cream cheese and blue cheese, and ate those together.  Delicious, really.  Makes up in taste for last nights dulldullmeal.

It's all an experiment.