We thank Chef Peter Gordon for sharing this inspiring recipe with Cloudy Bay Clams.

I am a Clam Fan. Earlier this year I headed to Marlborough Wine & Food Festival and checked out one of my favourite NZ companies - Cloudy Bay Clams. They supply many of the best restaurants in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia and abroad. I was co-hosted by Cloudy Bay winery - their sparkling Pelorus or any of their Sauvignon Blanc’s would be a perfect match for this. Clams and pasta go together well – Venetian spaghetti vongole is a culinary classic – but I used one of my favourite shapes, Southern Italian Orecchiette which translates as ‘small ear’. This dish is based on a meal for 300+ I cooked at the Venice Art Biennale in 2017 supporting the NZ artist Lisa Reihana – where I combined Cloudy Bay Clams with local clams from the lagoon.  A Culinary + Cultural mash up. This will serve 4, if you have more guests simply increase the amount of pasta. It can also be made using mussels or prawns – the recipe remains the same.

For 4

1kg clams

1 onion, peeled and diced

6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

2 fingers ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks (you can never have too much ginger!)

1 red chilli, sliced

250g dried pasta

3 tbsp miso paste (I used Urban Hippie made in Nelson)

1 x 400ml can coconut milk

3 silverbeet (Swiss chard) leaves and stalks, shredded

2 spring onions, sliced

Small bunch coriander, coarse shredded, stalks and leaves

Heat a deep sided pan over medium high heat.

Add 2 tsp oil then the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry to caramelise, stirring often.

While that’s cooking, boil the pasta in salted water, then drain once al dente.

Add the miso paste to the onions and fry another minute, stirring constantly.

Add the coconut milk then rinse out the can with water, adding 1 can water to the pan.

Boil 2 minutes.

Stir in the clams, silverbeet, spring onions.

Bring back to the boil, gently stirring, put a lid on and cook 3 - 4 minutes until all the clams have opened.

Take the lid off and give it a good stir.

Stir in the drained pasta, bring to the boil and cook 1 minute.

Stir in the coriander.

Taste for seasoning - it shouldn’t need much at all because of the clams themselves and the miso.

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