Don’t worry that children never listen to you ; worry that they are always watching you.”-Robert Fulghim

I was going to write a hilarious, annoying, sarcastic post on how my family went clamming. However, as we sat on the patio with full bowls and recapping the day we decided on several things – that we would do it again and this recipe of mine, oops I mean ours, believe me everybody had input and a hand in this delicious meal .

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh clams
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 3 cloves garlic, 2 crushed and 1 for rubbing
• Pike Place Fish rub
• 4 tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups  fish stock 
• Salt
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 Red scotch bonnet pepper
• Half orange bell pepper (use a whole we only had a half )
• Onion
• Cilantro
• Halibut
• Shrimp
• 4 slices country bread, toasted and cut in half

Preparation: Remove excess sand from clams by soaking them in a bowl of cold salted water. The clams will open their shells and release any sand and grit that is inside. In a food processor add two cloves of  garlic,scotch bonnet   pepper , tomatoes , bell pepper,  cilantro  pulse until blended. Add to pot with Pike Place Fish rub , fish stock the clams and cook for 30 seconds with the lid on, stirring  the pot often. Add the wine to the pot , and cover with the lid until the clams have completely opened. The clams release some water, which is the base for the soup. Add a generous splash of white wine. (You can make this soupier by adding a little more wine or even a few spoonsful of tomato puree. )Add the  cream , halibut and shrimp and salt, to taste. Continue cooking for another minute for all the flavors to come together.

Rub some raw garlic on the toasted bread slices. Drizzle the bread with the extra virgin olive oil. Serve the clam soup in bowls with two half slices of toast per bowl.