Chocolate Clams and Salsa
- Total:
- 50 min
- Prep:
- 30 min
- Cook:
- 20 min
- Yield:
- 4 servings
- Level:
- Easy
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ground Flag Salsa:
- 4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1 serrano chile, seeded and diced
- 1 onion, diced
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
- A touch olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Refried Beans (Frijoles Refritos):
- 1/4 cup lard (pork fat)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 chipotle pepper, seeded and diced
- About 3 cups cooked black beans
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 pounds/1 kg chocolate clams in shells
- Lime wedges, to garnish
Directions
For the dressing: Put the mayonnaise, mustard, cilantro, onions and jalapeno in the recipient of a blender and pulse until creamy. Season with salt and pepper.
For the salsa: In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, chile, onions, lime zest and juice, cilantro and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. If you like things spicier, put everything through a meat grinder, or a blender, and grind it up. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
For the refried beans: Heat the lard in a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and chipotle pepper and continue sauteing for 1 minute.
Add a ladle of cooked beans and, using a masher, start mashing the beans. Once the first spoonful of beans has been mashed completely, keep adding more beans and repeating the process. The unique taste of refried beans occurs as a result of slowly frying the starches inside the beans in the lard, so you want to add the beans a little bit at a time, to make sure they all get good and fried.
Once all the beans have been mashed, add a little bean liquid or water, until you get the texture that you want. Keep it a bit looser than you eventually want, as they will continue to firm up as they cool off the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
For the clams: Scrub them under cool running water. Discard any gaping clams that don't close when cleaned.
Set the clams on a BBQ grill over a solid bed of hot coals or over high heat on a gas grill. Close the lid on the gas grill. Cook the clams until they pop open, 6 to 8 minutes.
Serve with a spoonful of the dressing, the salsa and refried beans. Garnish with lime wedges.
Cook's Note
The Mexican chocolate clam, so-called for its brown-colored shell, is the largest West Coast bivalve. Reaching up to 6 inches across, the clams are very popular all along the coast of Central America. If Mexican chocolate clams are unavailable at your local store, you can use any other high-quality clams (still in their shells).
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