Clam Pasta with Chorizo and Walnuts by Alison Roman

And Alison does it again – completely exceeds my seafood expectations and makes me want to cook whatever crustacean she uses, again and again. I’ve never once thought clams were appetizing. I’ve never once craved them. Even after living in San Francisco for two years – home of the clam chowder & sourdough bread bowl – I avoided clams with gusto. 

With the same trepidation, I approached the seafood counter at Cub to order two pounds of littleneck clams. I watched the soft-spoken man behind the counter take his time adding clams to the scale, wishing I wasn’t spending $18 on the little guys. But alas, all for the project! 

First step was to toast the walnuts, whole, in the oven at 350. I find that it takes about 13 minutes to get a sufficient toasting, as opposed to the 8-10 minutes Alison suggests. Or it could just be my oven. Alison frequently asks for toasted nuts, and I capitalize on this by toasting more than called for so I can eat the rest as a snack! Once the nuts cooled, I could chop them into tiny nibs to make the gremolata. For those curious, Google says that gremolata is “a dressing or garnish made with chopped parsley, garlic, and grated lemon zest, served as an accompaniment to meat or fish.” And that’s exactly what I mixed with the walnuts: parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. 

Thirty minutes before dinnertime, I started cooking the chorizo, a task I always find annoying because it takes far too much effort to break up the meat in the skillet. Remind me next time to crumble it by hand before putting it in the pan. Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta (corn & brown rice pasta) in a pot of unsalted water. Once the chorizo was just browned through, I added another 4 cloves of minced garlic and let them get nicely aromatic. 

Quickly after, the clams were ready to join the fun. I placed the lid on the pan and shook it every 20 seconds for 3 minutes. That’s all it took for the clams to open and warm through. So easy! I added the cooked pasta straight from the pot with tongs, just as Alison suggested, along with over a cup of the pasta water. For the next 5 minutes, Madeline took over and vigorously shook the skillet as the starch in the pasta water formed a sauce that coated the noodles with briny, salty flavor. Many twists of black pepper later, and this was ready to serve. 

And wow, was it delicious. If you’re like me and you find clams intimidating, this is a great introductory recipe that will leave you unafraid and ready for more. It’s not at all fishy tasting, and the pasta and chorizo make it feel like a familiar dinner with a fun twist. The walnuts and parsley added a really nice textural variance, and added yet another flavor element to make things interesting. There were absolutely no leftovers. 

I got my courage to make this dish from 3 daring friends who wanted to try it with me. Sam, Madeline, and Jordan. And as is customary with this crew, this became another All-Out Alison Meal. I’ll deploy the other recipe essays through the rest of this week. 

103 recipes cooked, 122 to go.

Baked Eggs with Chorizo, Chickpeas, and Bread Crumbs by Alison Roman

As I lay in bed this morning, I thought about the day ahead. Admittedly I have very few things to accomplish today – I’m on vacation in Colorado. One item on my short to-do list is making this dish. We already bought all of the ingredients and it’s our last full morning here; today’s the day to do it. But I felt tired and not super jazzed about spending 45 minutes cooking breakfast. I could feel perfectly satisfied with just some eggs and toast. 

And yet, every time I make an Alison recipe that I’m not necessarily in the mood for, it’s as if I can hear her say, “do you trust me?” 

My answer is always “yes.” It’s part of my Rules, and that answer hasn’t led to disappointment yet. 

Well, today’s “yes” was surely rewarded – this meal is amazing. I’ll take you through a brief step by step… 

Diced onion, cumin and chorizo spend the first few minutes together, softening and sharing flavor. This recipe calls for dry chorizo, and try as I did, I couldn’t find it. So I used wet pork chorizo instead. No way of telling if that severely altered anything, but let’s just say that I didn’t notice anything wrong. 

Next, diced fresh tomato joins the pan and cooks until it releases its juices and softens nicely. Then, a can of chickpeas and a bit of water go into the pan to simmer until the liquid reduces substantially. Alison instructs you to break the chickpeas a bit with your spatula, which helps them cook faster and turn out softer for eating purposes. 

Meanwhile, and this is the most ingenious part of the recipe in my opinion, Alison has you make her Spicy Bread Crumbs, which are just fresh bread crumbs fried in oil and aleppo pepper. This step was crucial to the overall texture of the dish. Without the crunchy breadcrumbs, the final thing is a softer, dare I say mushy, mixture that is, yes, delicious, but wanting in variety. Bread crumbs are the answer to this, and therefore cannot be skipped. 

With most of the liquid evaporated, four pockets are created in the pan and an egg fills each one. The pan is supposed to bake in the oven so that the eggs can cook, but none of the pans available in our cabin were oven-safe. Instead, I turned the stove’s heat down to medium-low and covered the pan to steam-cook the eggs. This worked perfectly, and only took about 6 minutes! Before plating I sprinkled the bread crumbs and fresh parsley over the top. 

This breakfast thoroughly exceeded all my expectations. The flavors and textures were vibrant, but not overpowering. It felt filling and satisfying, but not heavy. It paired perfectly with sliced avocado. 

Next time I have someone over for brunch, I will make this – without hesitation. 

75 recipes cooked, 150 to go. (ONE THIRD OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL!)

Pot of Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Chorizo Breadcrumbs by Alison Roman

Making this dish was a bonafide relay race that I was not prepared for. It’s silly, really. I glanced at the ingredients and the overall process (which is like a lot of other pasta+veggie dishes) and figured this would be one of the most simple recipes I’d attempt in this project. In one sense, it was easy - no new techniques, no crazy ingredients. 

On the other hand, everything happens so fast. Because I didn’t prep most of the ingredients ahead of time, the assembly had me flying around the kitchen at a stress-inducing pace. When one thing needed to be added to this pan, something else had to be stirred in the other, or chopped, or drained. At one point, I didn’t have enough hands to keep it all going, so I yelled at Jordan to come stir some tomato paste so it didn’t burn. (Yelled at? Politely asked? You can ask him.) 

My lowest moment was while cooking the chorizo, a drop of oil splattered and hit me right above my eye. A close call, and quite painful. I had to laugh though. I was so sure it’d be a breeze! 

There are five separate elements that all happen on their own and come together at the end. 1. Tomato paste/garlic/spices, all sautéed in a pan until nice n’ toasty. 2. Baby broccoli, trimmed, chopped and coated by the tomato paste mixture. 3. Chorizo (or spicy Italian sausage), cases removed and cooked until fully browned. 4. Breadcrumbs, sautéed in a pan with oil, salt and pepper, until golden and crunchy. 5. Pasta with some saved cooking water.

For all of the hullabaloo, it was a nice meal. I like that I didn’t feel the need to make anything else to go with it, too. My only request would be for more tomato flavor. Though a full ¼ cup of tomato paste is used, it seemed to be lost by the time everything else was added. 

The next day, Jordan sheepishly asked if I would ever be willing to make this dish again. I asked why he seemed so hesitant. He said “because you seemed pretty upset while you were making it.” We both laughed. It’s true, I was flustered. Next time, I’ll just be a little more prepared. 

34 recipes cooked, 191 recipes to go.