This week we sat down to talk to the new executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton's Bistro 24, Stephen Toevs. Today he shares a recipe very dear to his heart.
"[In Rhode Island] My dad has a boat and so we go out on the boat and we dig little necks and we bring them home and this is the traditional dish that we always make. This dish embodies me, this is what I grew up with. I grew up in a Portuguese family and I grew up on the ocean. Fresh seafood was part of our meal at least three to four times a week. A lot of the Portuguese flavors that I grew up with, in terms of the chorizo and bacalhau, and olives, and white wine, and all of that stuff is kind of infused in me.
"I wanted to show you this because this talks about who I am. I can remember like as young as seven years old, my dad waking me up at three o'clock in the morning to take me on the boat to go shell-fishing with my grandfather. We'd come home and shower and my mom would prepare this for us. This was a traditional Sunday dish for us."
Ingredients
Yields: 2 portions
16 each Little neck Clams (scrubbed and iced)
2 tablespoons Olive oil
3 ounces White wine
1 tablespoon Sliced garlic
1 whole Lemon
3 tablespoons Chopped Parsley
3 tablespoons Basil chiffonade
1 can Chopped clams w/ broth
½ pound Capellini Pasta
2 ounces Butter
Find out how to make it after the jump
Method
Blanch pasta in salted boiling water, cook to al dente. In a large
sauté pan render garlic in olive oil and butter. Add wine and reduce.
Add chopped clams and whole clams, season, squeeze lemon cover
and cook. Cook till Clams open. Add in hot pasta toss and plate.
Garnish with Fresh basil and parsley.
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