It’s so awful, but for me, good food is sometimes a burden. For instance, the other day we needed clams and mussels in a bowl for a photo shoot. They were to serve no other purpose than to be themselves for 5 minutes.
At the end of the day they were up for grabs on our food trolley (we basically do a little grocery shop on our way to our cars each day, taking the food that was made between 9 and 5 home for ourselves or others). No one, including me, wanted the seafood. I’d eaten enough during the day and really, I just couldn’t see myself cooking them up into a chowder. But I felt guilty about wasting these creatures for the sake of a 5-minute TV segment so I took them home, steamed them and shucked the meats from the shells and made this little salad. Then, I packed it into a plastic container and put it in the fridge.
Sabrina and I ate it the next day for lunch and you know what? My efforts were well worth the pay off. And, given how hot it is here in Ontario right now. I can see myself making this salad again late one evening so that I have a cold, yummy, protein dish on reserve for dinner.
Here’s how to make one yourself:
• Steam a combination of clams and mussels in a large pot of salted water.
• Drain cooked shellfish in a colander and refresh under cold running water
• Remove meats from opened shells and discard any unopened shellfish.
• Pat the shucked shellfish dry on paper towel.
• Combine drained shellfish, diced red pepper and a handful of chopped parsley in a bowl.
• Drizzle with lemony-dill dressing; toss and let stand for at least 15 minutes.
What are your hot weather entree favorites?
Welcome to my blog! Have a look around, feel free to post some comments and 
Please subscribe to my blog and never miss a posting.
Hungry for info on the latest food trends? 
Now this looks absolutely delicious, i gotta try this.
Please do – and make it your own. It’s an idea more than a recipe.
It was delicious!
I have a tortellini salad that I go to often. I usually add a can of tuna or salmon and whatever veggies I have and serve it well chilled with a fresh lemony herb dressing. I also like my friend’s recipe that she calls Grape Salad. Lots of seedless grapes and cubed turkey in shell pasta with a ranch style dressing. It may have mandarine oranges in it too if I’m not mistaken.
A wonderful hot-weather meal! I would just need a baguette and a bottle of chilled white.
My husband lives on cottage cheese and fruit salad in the summer. Come to think of it, he lives on that most days – it’s his after dinner dinner.
I like having pasta/bean salads hanging around for days when I don’t want to cook. A chickpea taboulleh, orzo with feta and dill, or maybe some panzanella.
Hi,
We have just added your latest post “Hot weather cooking: easy shellfish salad” to our Food Directory . You can check the inclusion of the post here . We are delighted to invite you to submit all your future posts to the directory for getting a huge base of visitors to your website and gaining a valuable backlink to your site.
Warm Regards
foodnrecipes.info Team
http://www.foodnrecipes.info
If it’s hot and humid, I lose my appetite. To keep me going in this weather, I drink my meals — smoothies, lassis or iced coffee.
If it’s just warm, I love salads and chicken kebabs / souvlaki. I could live on cucumber salad made with feta and lime dressing.
Feta and lime dressing? Do you have a recipe for that?
This is too eerie. I’m on Martha’s Vineyard right now and we’re going on Tuesday to get a shellfish permit so we can rake for clams and mussels! As my husband runs screaming in the other direction from any fish with shells, I rarely cook the stuff at home and so don’t have a lot of good ideas. Now, thanks to you, I have a great one.
Eerie stuff! Hope you enjoy the salad. Of course, chowder is always a wonderful way to cook up a batch of clams, too.