Clams basquaisePalourdes clams are available from any fishmonger, and you're better off ringing the day before and ordering them to make sure you get the freshest. This is good solid Spanish cooking (they love a bit of pig with their molluscs), and the stuffed tomato makes it feels properly Iberian.Enjoy with a hunk of crusty bread as it's pretty juicy, but in a good way.Serves two1 red onion, diced2 tbsns light olive oil4 cloves garlic, cut in half lengthways2 sticks rosemary, washed, picked and roughly choppeda pinch of dried chilli flakes1 glass of red wine1 red pepper, middle removed and cut into centimetre-thick rings1 courgette (I used yellow for a change), cut into inch-thick pieces1 tin chopped tomatoes2 bay leaves500g palourdes clamsfor the stuffed tomatoes:2 beefsteak tomatoes1 white bread roll or 2 slices of stale white bread, torn into tiny chunks2 tbspn extra-virgin olive oil2 splashes Tabascoa handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped75g chorizo (I used the hard, cooked kind but it doesn't matter if you want to use the raw one), cut up into a small dicezest of half a lemonsalt and pepperPreheat your oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Take the tomatoes, and with a short, sharp knife cut in a circle a couple of centimetres around the stalks at an angle so you can tug them off in one piece; put the lids aside. Scoop out the middle with a teaspoon, keeping the innards, leaving the walls about 1cm thick.Tear the bread into tiny pieces and strain the juice of the tomato middles on top. Chop the remaining flesh, chucking out the very hard central core, and add it to the mix. Mix all the other ingredients for the tomatoes in with the bread, and squish it all together with your hands so that the bread is properly moistened.When stuffing the tomatoes, pack the mix down well, and don't forget to put their hats back on. Put them in a lightly oiled dish and bake for half an hour.Pour a couple of tablespoons of light olive oil into a shallow saucepan, and fry the red onion, halved cloves of garlic, rosemary and dried chilli flakes. After a few minutes toss in the courgette and pepper pieces, fry hard and fast, then pour in the red wine. Bring it up to a high heat so it reduces right down; then tip in the tinned tomatoes and bay leaves. Let it all simmer away for about 20 minutes with a lid on until the courgettes are just about cooked.Wash the clams well under cold running water, chucking out any open ones.When the courgettes are just about ready, tip in the clams, push them down and around a bit (they don't need to be under the surface of the liquid – the steam is enough to open them) and pop the lid back on. In a couple of minutes they'll be ready, as will the stuffed tomatoes.Munch this down with some bread and a sharply dressed green salad – and don't forget a warm, lemony finger bowl is a lovely thing.Food & drinkguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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