A crowd pleaser… this recipes easily serves 10-12 hungry eaters!
For the Ciabatta…
Ingredients…
1 large Ciabatta loaf or 6 sandwich-size Ciabatta rolls sliced like an open book.
To Make…
Lightly toast the Ciabatta; tear it up into large dipping pieces; and, spread them on the bottom of a very large resting platter. Set aside.
For the Sausage…
Ingredients…
2 hot Italian sausages, casing removed
2 sweet Italian sausages, casing removed
Extra virgin olive oil
To Make…
- Over medium high, heat a large cast iron skillet and add enough EVOO to coat the bottom.
- Break up the sausages and add them to the skillet. Cook, stirring and turning the pieces until they are brown and crispy.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove sausage to an extra-large resting/serving platter and leave drippings in the skillet for cooking the shellfish.
For the Shrimp…
Ingredients…
4 dozen wild caught, extra-large shrimp in their shells with the back veins removed… you can ask your fish monger to do this for you if you plan.
Extra virgin olive oil
To Make…
- Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil into the cast iron skillet with reserved drippings. Add the shrimp and slip the skillet onto a grill grate; into your preheated oven on the bottom shelf; or, on a stove burner over high heat.
- Cook until shrimp turns pink… about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove shrimp from skillet and pile onto the resting platter with the sausage.
For the Clams…
Ingredients…
4 dozen Littlenecks in their shells
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter
8 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
¼ cup of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped coarsely
To Make…
- About 5 minutes before cooking… soak clams in a large bowl of ice water to remove any grit or sand. Drain, rinse well and drain again.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F or preheat your grill on high.
- Put clams in the cast iron skillet with reserved drippings and slip the skillet onto a grill grate; into your preheated oven on the bottom shelf; or, on a stove burner over high heat.
- In the meantime… melt the butter with garlic on top of the stove. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Set aside.
- Cook the clams until they all have opened… about 10 minutes… and pile them onto the resting platter with the bread, sausage and shrimp. Remember to discard or compost any clams that don’t open.
To Serve…
Using your hands… gently turn the sausage, clams, and shrimp so they’re mixed well. Pour garlic, parsley butter over all. Drizzle heavily with more EVOO and garnish with more chopped parsley. Enjoy…
