2.096

11 (Mon) April 2011

Clams in Tomato-Paprika-Saffron Broth

3.5

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Almost identical in concept to a dish that I made last year (see 1.073 Clams with Tomatoes and Mushrooms in Saffron Broth), with 3 slight but significant alterations that improved the basic recipe: (i) the amount of saffron was increased from a mere pinch to, say, a pinch and a half (I’m still too stingy to go all out with this most valuable and expensive herb); (ii) the tomatoes were added early on, which broke them down and infused the broth with their flavor; and (iii) minced paprika, or red bell peppers, were added to give a bit of contrasting liveliness and texture.

Although the photo unfortunately doesn’t provide scale, those clams were enormous.

This came very close to being my first self-made 4.0 dish, but 3 points kept it from perfection: (i) being in a hunger-induced rush, I failed to season it properly and didn’t bother to adjust ex post facto (not a big deal); (ii) the clams hadn’t yet spit out all their sand, leaving the broth a bit grainy and certain bites of clam somewhat rocky (out of my control); and (iii) while intended to be a soup dish, I couldn’t help feeling that it was missing something, like a pasta or bread or rice, to give it more substance (could’ve been the hunger).

(For more details re food, see WHAT)

(For more details re venues, see WHERE IN KOREA)