A Calabrian Love Letter
When a couple of newlywed chefs hit the road in southern Italy for their honeymoon, you can bet they’ll come back with inspiration for a recipe—or ten. For starters, Jenni Ridall, founder of TK Test Kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina, and her new husband Mike Lata, of FIG and the Ordinary fame, couldn’t get enough of the region’s clams. “We had pasta alle vongole nearly every day,” she says. The local aromatics also made quite the impression. They marveled at Calabria’s namesake chiles in all forms—fresh, dried, powdered, marinated, pickled—and discovered the revered cipolla di Tropea, an elongated onion so sweet that the Italians make gelato with it. At home in Charleston, the ingredients came together effortlessly in a one-pot dish of spicy steamed clams that captured the flavors of southern Italy in all its briny glory. Says Ridall, “Sweet shallot echoes the Tropea onion, the Calabrian chiles—both dried and marinated—lend fruit and spice, and our South Carolina clams contend with the best vongole in Sicily.”
Calabrian-style clams
share
TLP Editors
trending content
-
Our Summer 2024 Issue is Here!
by Erin Byers Murray -
9 Noteworthy Kentucky Restaurants | Listen
by TLP Editors -
Crafting Excellence at Carrboro Coffee Roasters
by TLP's Partners -
Rasam is the Spice of Life
by Veronica Meewes -
The Best Southern Cookbooks of the Season | Listen
More From At the Table
-
Rasam is the Spice of Life
-
High Tea, Southern Style
-
10 Leftover Recipes To Clean Out Your Fridge
-
Country Captain Shrimp and Grits
-
10 Nonalcoholic Drinks for Dry January