Speciality food stores is most likely the best spot to track down ‘nduja and it is worth the effort. When preparing clams, tap open ones against a work surface and discard any that don’t close or have cracked shells. Leave to sit in a bowl of cold salted water for at least 20 minutes before cooking to purge any sand or grit that remains.
Serves 2 
30mins 18oz clams
3.5oz ‘nduja
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large shallot finely chopped
7fl oz cider or dry white wine
3 tbsp double cream
A good handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
For the tomato toasts:
4 slices sourdough bread, toasted
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 ripe beef tomato, sliced in half
5oz ‘nduja Extra virgin olive oil
500g clams
100g ‘nduja
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large shallot finely chopped
200ml cider or dry white wine
3 tbsp double cream
A good handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
For the tomato toasts:
4 slices sourdough bread, toasted
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 ripe beef tomato, sliced in half
150g ‘nduja Extra virgin olive oil
Large saucepan
Slotted spoon
Mussels have always been eaten in Ireland, usually by coastal dwellers, but they were also hawked around the streets of Drogheda and of course Dublin, as evidenced in the old song about Molly Malone who ‘wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow’. Today the mussels of Wexford are particularly large and succulent, a commercial mussel farm having been established there, but there are also many fine mussels in other parts of Ireland. This is a modern recipe given to me by the Irish aquaculture association. Recipe from The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora Fitzgibbon.
