This recipe comes from Delancey – a pizza restaurant in Seattle owned by Brandon Petit and his wife, food blogger and book writer, Molly Wizenberg.
Delancey’s clam pizza is made with fresh steamed Manila clams (canned clams are NOT an option) and it’s a weekend special that always sells out. At Delancey, the clam pizza gets a special twist from the addition of preserved Meyer lemons. I couldn’t find them at Trader Joe’s or at our very well-stocked Thriftway, so I decided to substitute a small amount of fresh lemon zest, which seemed to add just the right amount of lemon flavor. I also added chopped fresh basil to the parsley because I just love basil with clams. And, to make things VERY easy, I bought a ball of Trader Joe’s pizza dough instead of making my own.
Clam Pizza
Ingredients
- 40 small Manila clams
- 2 oz. butter
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 1/4 cup crème fraiche
- 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (optional)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 cup fresh mozzarella, broken into small chunks
- fresh chopped parsley and basil
- 1 ball pizza dough
Instructions
- Set a pizza stone in the oven and pre-heat to 500 degrees for 1 hour.
- In a large stock pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
- Add the shallots and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and bring to a boil.
- Add the clams and steam, covered, until the shells open, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.
- Remove the the cooked clams from the liquid and set aside to cool.
- Once cool, remove the meat and discard the shells and any clams that did not open up.
- Continue cooking the wine and shallot liquid over high heat until it reduces down to about 2 Tablespoons, then strain over a bowl and discard the shallots. Whisk in the crème fraiche and lemon zest (optional) until incorporated.
- Remove the pizza stone from the oven.
- Stretch the pizza dough into a 12 inch circle and place on the hot stone.
- Top pizza with the shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, and the clams, then drizzle the crème fraiche over the top.
- Bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown and puffed – about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and drizzle some hot chile oil over the pizza and then garnish with a generous portion of chopped parsley and basil.
