Clams with corn, fregola, chili and herbs

Serves 2

Ingredients:

600-800g pippies or other clams

1/3 cup fregola

2 Tbls. olive oil

25g butter

1/2 brown onion, peeled and diced

1/2 large leek, thinly sliced and washed well

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 long green or long red chili, thinly sliced

2 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob and milk scraped from the cob

2 tsp. white miso

100ml beer

salt and black pepper

50ml cream

Mixed soft herbs (parsley, coriander, basil, tarragon, chives and/or chervil)

optional lime or lemon juice

Method:

Sautee onion, celery, leeks with a pinch of salt in the butter and olive oil over low medium heat until totally soft and translucent but have no colour, about 10-15 minutes. Add in the corn and the scraped milk from the cob and another pinch of salt and continue to cook on low for another 8-10 minutes. Add in the miso towards the end of this time and mix in to combine.

Separately, cook the fregola in boiling salted water until al dente. Strain and reserve.

Turn the heat in the pan to high, add in your clams and pour the beer in, cover with a lid and steam until they open. Once opened, add in the fregola, stir and have a taste. Because the clams have some salt in them I would guess the seasoning is fine but if not, add some salt. Either serve in the pan or pour all of this into a serving dish. Pour the cream over the top, crack some black pepper on top, sprinkle with herbs and serve with lemon or lime.