Little Neck Clam Noodles • One pot wonder

Shellfish. Not something I can claim to know a lot about. I am a prawn cocktail girl. Classy I know!

But my love of photographing beautiful food has challenged my palette and every week, it feels as though I am trying or cooking something new.

I spied these little neck clams and couldn't resist a couple of handfuls for a quick and easy lunch or light dinner. (My Mum always laughs that Rich and I like a hot lunch! But when you work from home why not?!)

Ingredients - makes one portion:

• drizzle olive oil
• 1 handful little neck clams (Make sure they are tightly closed. If you see any slightly open tap them)
• 1 small handful samphire (find it at the fish counter in Waitrose) or use mangetout/green beans as a substitute
• 1 large handful fresh noodles (I used the more yellow variety of noodles)
• pinch of pepper and chilli flakes if you like it hot!

Place a wok or medium sized frying pan on a medium heat. 

Add a drizzle of olive oil and your clams.

Cook for 5 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Add your samphire and noodles and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Watch the magic happen. I loved seeing the calms pop open as they cooked. Give the stragglers an extra couple of minutes but if they still haven't opened, bin them. They are not good to eat!

Use tongs to plate up your meal and sprinkle with pepper and chilli. Or leave the chilli if you prefer your food milder.

Dive in.

I often feel stuck in a rut with meal times. Mince based dishes seem to feature most often in this house, so it was lovely to have something so different and colourful on our plates. 

Have you tried anything new lately? 

ps. the calms taste very meaty, the samphire very earthy.

pps. this is my new favourite Anthropologie plate. Oh to have a full set...!