Rachael Ray's Spicy Manila Clams Are Perfect For Your Holiday Spread
It's game time, baby! With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations only about a week away — and New Year's Eve fast on its heels — it's high time to start menu planning if you intend to host, or contribute to, a holiday meal this year. And with plenty of food celebs such as Jacques Pépin, as well as Ree Drummond, and Ina Garten all weighing in on what to make or gift this holiday season, it's pretty easy to gather ideas for what you can offer on our own holiday tables.
One Christmas Eve tradition you might be planning this year is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, an Italian-American custom that traces its origins to the Roman Catholic custom of abstaining from meat during certain holy times (via Trattoria Zooma). But whether you're going full-on fish or just want to savor a course or two, Rachael Ray has the dish for you: Manila clams with 'Nduja and charred ciabatta, a recipe the Food Network star shared on Instagram recently.
Ray's dish features a pork-infused seafood with grilled bread
If you love clams, and you're looking for a festive, flavor-rich appetizer to share with friends and family this holiday season, you'll want to consider Food Network star Rachael Ray's Manila clams with 'Nduja and charred ciabatta, a dish she shared in a video posted to Instagram. In her signature style, Ray made this seafood dish look easy and approachable — and tasty, too.
To prepare it, Ray melted down some 'Nduja, a fatty pork sausage paste packed with flavor, in some hot olive oil before adding chopped shallots and garlic to the sauté. Then, she added the raw Manila clams, a smaller variety of bivalve that are known for being meaty, firm, and sweet (via The Spruce Eats), allowing them to steam and release their salty juices into the pork-and-allium mix. Finally, her husband John broiled some ciabatta in the oven, which Ray then rubbed with raw garlic and drizzled with some fruity "EVOO."
"That is heaven," Ray declares in the video as she dunks the toast points in the rich seafood-and-sausage broth. We're sold: This just might be the perfect holiday appetizer!