Your Plate.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I like a good plate. 

To save bunging up ‘Pedros Food’ thread if you have a good plate or pot or BBQ or whatever stick it here. 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Here’s one I wanted to share last week but I was nervously conserving battery power most of the time.


 

This was Lochlevans Seafood Cafes seafood platter. Sent me into a food coma for about an hour

[Buckster]

I really don’t enjoy crab or lobster, I can eat my body weight in mussels but beyond that the only thing I eat from the sea is fish.

[XTreme]

7 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Here’s one I wanted to share last week but I was nervously conserving battery power most of the time.


 

This was Lochlevans Seafood Cafes seafood platter. Sent me into a food coma for about an hour

Think I'm going to puke again!

[Buckster]

1 minute ago, XTreme said:

Think I'm going to puke again!

You don’t want to drink the contents of that lobster arse then?

[Tym]

16 minutes ago, Buckster said:

I really don’t enjoy crab or lobster, I can eat my body weight in mussels but beyond that the only thing I eat from the sea is fish.

 Sea scallops if cooked right arnt so bad. 

 

And did somebody say plates these are from the officers club on Guam.

 

I hope you dint expect to see food on my plates did you?

 

[Buckster]

I don’t mind scallops occasionally.

[Tym]

Just now, Buckster said:

I don’t mind scallops occasionally.

Makes the great surf part to any turf option. 

[Buckster]

5 minutes ago, Tym said:

Makes the great surf part to any turf option. 

Along with this.

[Tym]

Keto approves of that post. 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

I really don’t enjoy crab or lobster, I can eat my body weight in mussels but beyond that the only thing I eat from the sea is fish.

You'd like this place then.

Obviously you go for the premium stuff on top first, lobster, crab, crayfish etc and that was all ok but the bottom layer was superb. The mussels, cockles and clams where the best I've had.  I don't think they've been done justice cos to me they've always been presented cold and boil to death.. and the vinegary jarred version..

The razor clams can fuck right off as well, I've had them pretty much raw and well cooked like elastic, they're never good. The oysters don't float my boat either but I've never enjoyed the mentioned 3 as much.

They keep them live in tanks out the back and they were large but still tender (no rubber bands). If I went back   When I go back Ill be skipping the lobster n crab part of it.

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Here’s one I wanted to share last week but I was nervously conserving battery power most of the time.


 

This was Lochlevans Seafood Cafes seafood platter. Sent me into a food coma for about an hour

i like almost all of that very much, but never got the point of a mixed platter like that. They’re typical on lots of seaside places in Portugal too, but I’d much rather have one type of seafood cooked to it’s best than everything mixed. 
 

Big clams, are those local?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I do not know.

Fishing for razor clams is forbidden in Scotland unless for scientific reasons. I think the 'normal' clams are large because they keep them in mahoosive tanks out the back.

The thing that surprised me most was how tender and 'unchewy' it was.

I really dislike the current trend in the UK for super sized shellfish that has little flavour and an awful lot of chewy matter involved.  

[boboneleg]

2 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Here’s one I wanted to share last week but I was nervously conserving battery power most of the time.


 

This was Lochlevans Seafood Cafes seafood platter. Sent me into a food coma for about an hour

OMG !!  that looks bloody awesome .

[skyrider]

2 hours ago, Tym said:

 Sea scallops if cooked right arnt so bad. 

 

And did somebody say plates these are from the officers club on Guam.

 

I hope you dint expect to see food on my plates did you?

 

queenies

[Catteeclan]

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Here’s one I wanted to share last week but I was nervously conserving battery power most of the time.


 

This was Lochlevans Seafood Cafes seafood platter. Sent me into a food coma for about an hour

Living by the sea I've seen what they have to live in and eat. You crack on girl.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

2 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

Living by the sea I've seen what they have to live in and eat. You crack on girl.

The intestine on one of the razor clam was sooo bulbous even Geremy Clarkson would have had second thoughts

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I do not know.

Fishing for razor clams is forbidden in Scotland unless for scientific reasons. I think the 'normal' clams are large because they keep them in mahoosive tanks out the back.

The thing that surprised me most was how tender and 'unchewy' it was.

I really dislike the current trend in the UK for super sized shellfish that has little flavour and an awful lot of chewy matter involved.  

Smaller is usually more flavourfull in most clams, but that is when they’re cooked in a closed dish with no mixes. 
 

If you like clams, with just some fresh coriander, garlic, olive oil and fresh live clams you can make a portuguese / italian feast, plus proper bread to go with it and a nice crisp white

You’ll get nice enough vietnamese clams from a quality supermarket, which sometimes is better than risking local toxins. Will post a link to a recipe later.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I wasn't hungry but suddenly I am

Coriander and garlic I'm totally on board with but in the UK butter is the king of fats.

Please post away, Im all ears. 

[Pedro]

14 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I wasn't hungry but suddenly I am

Coriander and garlic I'm totally on board with but in the UK butter is the king of fats.

Please post away, Im all ears. 

No butter for clams! 

[Buckster]

1 minute ago, Marcel said:

Are we talking about the muscle that's between the anus and the scrotum? 

I’m not as familiar with that area of anatomy as you obviously are.

[Pedro]

4 minutes ago, Marcel said:

Oh fuck all this time I though you were a dude... Are you telling me you got a virgina? 

He probably has, Marcel. You can never tell over the internet.

[Buckster]

8 minutes ago, Marcel said:

God only knows I've been played that trick on a few occasions... Sick bastards... 

    Well if you really have a vigina Buck... Who knows maybe we could work something out... I might have to stick a bag over your head.. If you got the lady's parts.... Why not.. 

I haven’t got lady parts, I just don’t feel the need to reach past my ball sack to examine myself, if you want to finger yourself in the arse while looking at pictures of Pete’s mange, then that’s your business and no one else needs to know.

[Buckster]

1 minute ago, Marcel said:

OK ok calm down.. I hurt your feelings I see.... 

   And a warning to you twats... Better not pull some fake user account pretending your a woman... I'm internet smart now... 

who would pull such a mean trick?

[Pedro]

2 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Please post away, Im all ears. 

So, this is one of the most delicious summery things you can have in Portugal. It's very similar to what they do in Italy except I prefer our version with coriander instead of parsley and no pasta.

You can get fresh safe local clams in most Algarve markets, and these are delicious. They go from 10 to 15€/kilo in low season to a quick 25 to 35€ in high season, seasons change overnight apparently which annoys me deeply. Regardless, clams feed by filtration and get contaminated with whatever toxins are around at the time they're caught, this demands that they're caught when they should and where it's safe, which is why sometimes foreign smaller clams from vietnam or other places are safer, you're sacrificing a little flavor for safety though, plus they're way cheaper, usually less than half price.

After getting your clams home you'll let them rest for a few hours in sea water, a good quality market will provide you with 5 or 10lt of sea water no problem, this is important because you will let them rest and breathe in that water to let out all the sand they're carrying inside. If you can't get sea water, use tap water and salt it, make it taste like the ocean and you should be ok, if it's got too little salt or too much you'll kill the clams and they're no good. It's important they get plenty of water though, I like to buy them after lunch and leave them be in cold water until dinner(add a couple of ice cubes if you're in a proper hot place). After a while inside the water, pick out the ones that are closed because they're dead. Before cooking drain out and rinse under the tap, if any are left open after rinsing, take them out because they're dead.

Get a few garlic cloves, easily 5 to 8 nice fat fresh ones, smash them and slice them. I like to add half the garlic smashed and sliced, and half just smashed but almost whole. Get a fresh coriander bunch, and finely shop the stalks, and roughly shop the leaves. A lot of olive oil to cover the bottom of a pan and while cold put the garlic and coriander in. Resist adding butter, this is meant to taste like the ocean. Start at low to medium heat and simmer everything, before the garlic turns golden (you want cooked but soft fragrant white garlic) add the clams and close the lid. Let heat build for a moment, like a minute or so, and add a couple of glasses of nice room temperature white wine. Give it a few twirls and close the lid between them, it'll cook quickly, uncover and serve as soon as all clams are open. Don't let the clams cook a lot after they're open, they will become overcooked and rubbery shit. 

 

Serve with a nice quality heavy bread, Algarve and Alentejo bread is amazing for this, but a nice white sourdough ought to be nice. Toast it golden as you'll use it to soak up the delicious garlicky sauce. This is where you can use butter if you want to, by toasting the bread already buttered, it'll be more decadent, but give it a try without butter first, I promise it's delicious. Squeeze a little bit of lemon over right before eating, if you like, I do.

For wine, you want a nice mineral citric sharp white for a classy meal. You can go rose if you want to have a lighter meal or are british, but don't cook with the rose. 

 

Top picture is Algarve clams, bigger and rougher, second picture is Vietnamese clams, smaller and smoother but way cheaper. Both delicious.