Clam and Potato "Stew"

In the never ending search to expand on our house "signature dish" -- spaghetti with clam sauce -- I've been trying out a few recipes for the tasty, tender mollusks. This one couldn't be easier. Based on a quick tapas style stew I saw on Mark Bittman's, New York Time columnist and "America's Best Home Cook", blog I set out to make another hurry up dinner starring James' favorites, Manilla clams.

I cut two peeled potatoes into 1/4 inch dice and tossed them along with one smashed clove of garlic and a handful of parsley stems and woody sprigs into my cazuela (any excuse to use a new pot) along with 1 cup of white wine. I put that, covered, over high heat for 15 minutes. Bittman's recipe makes a parsley pesto to sauce the clams, but I had a perfectly good lettuce pesto left over from a a dinner a little while back and used that instead. When the clams were cooked and the potatoes(home grown All Reds) tender (about 15 minutes) I stirred in about 1/2 cup of the pesto and served right from the pot with plenty of crusty bread.

"This is really good," James mumbled between bites.