The Manila clams were simplicity itself. I just rinsed them in a colander, and added them to some simmering tomato-basil spaghetti sauce. I have a very good Italian deli nearby, which provided the sauce, though supermarket sauce would have done. After I added the clams to the sauce, I covered the saucepan, and they opened within six minutes or so. Then I just served them over some thin spaghetti. Really good!I served the oysters three different ways – raw, fried and broiled. They were wonderful raw, with a little lemon. To fry them, I rolled them in some Progresso Italian bread crumbs, adding some extra thyme, and sautéed them in some olive oil in a non-stick skillet, turning them once. They got nice and crunchy on the outside, but tender inside. To broil them, I just placed them in a little olive oil in a steel skillet, gave them a shake of paprika, and under the gas we go. They were done in less than five minutes. I let them cool a bit and served them over a green salad. Yummy!I also enjoyed the natural smoked salmon. I put some in an omelet and had some over a salad a second day. Great stuff!
And Ken from California, a big fan of raw oysters in the shell, had this to say about oyster seasonality:
Thanks again for another stellar batch of oysters. They were fantastic as usual. I'm finding it very interesting how the oysters go through their seasonal cycles. Each month they are slightly different, and now that I'm endulging more often I can begin to tell the difference. In previous months, they seemed to have more liquor in them, clear liquid, silvery in color. As you mentioned in the card, they are more plump now, less liquor, a little more sweet. I'm going to try some of the larger ones for the BBQ as you suggested, later in the season.