Thursday, November 11th, 2010 | posted by wendy

One of the most famous (and delicious!) Portuguese combinations of shellfish and pork:

• 3 medium Spanish onions (sliced thin)
• 3 large garlic cloves (minced)
• 2 large sweet green peppers (cored, seeded and cut into strips)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large bay leaf (crumbled)
• 1 can undrained water-packed tomatoes (16 oz)
• 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
• 2 oz. lean prosciutto (diced)
• 1/4 lb. lean smoked ham (diced)
• 1/4 lb. chorizo (diced)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
• 4 dozen manila clams or small littleneck clams
• 2 gallons of cold water
• 3 T salt
• 2 T cornmeal

Scrub clams then add to a large kettle filled with the water, salt and cornmeal.  Soak for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: Stir-fry the onions, garlic and green peppers in the oil in a large skillet over moderate heat 8 -10 minutes until limp and golden.  Add the bay leaf, tomatoes and their juice.  Break up large clumps of tomatoes and simmer (covered) for 30 minutes.  Add tomato sauce, prosciutto, ham and chorizo, re-cover and cook 30 minutes longer.  (You may prepare this sauce up to 2 days in advance, if you wish).

To assemble the cataplana: spoon half the tomato mixture into the bottom of a large cataplana (or a large skillet/Dutch oven) and bring to a simmering boil over moderate heat.  Adjust the heat so that the mixture barely boils, then arrange clams on top, spoon in the remaining tomato sauce, cover tight and cook for about 10 minutes over moderately low heat (no peeking).  Open the pan, pout in the wine and scatter the parsley evenly on top, toss the clams lightly, then re-cover and cook slowly 15 to 20 minutes longer until the clams open (discard the ones that do not).  Ladle into large soup plates and serve with a crusty bread. Serves 6.