Cook with Us #4 – Pasta with ark clam sauce (salsa de pepitona)
For Easter my family avoid red meat, so we eat seafood. One of our favourites is any meal with turkey wing ark clams (Arca Zebra; in Venezuela we call it "pepitonas") because we can make a stew very similar to ground meat but tastier.
The original post for the contest
First we have to clean and prepare the clams, and put them to boil in water with salt for 30-45 minutes. You can find it in the market ready to cook, but I prefer to buy fresh in the fisher's market.
While the clams are boiling, we put oil in the skillet and we throw some little chops of green pepper, chili pepper, onion, garlic, chives and pepper (don't add salt because the clams are boiling with salt). Once the clams are soft we chop in little pieces and add them to our stew, let it cook for 10-15 minutes to reduce the sauce and we ar ready with this part.
Later I use to add this stew a bechamel sauce. This mix is tasty and have a soft texture. I serve this with pasta and a little pecorino.
This are the pictures of my preparation:
Cooking the ark clams stew 
and the white sauce 
The pasta 
and the dish served 
Welcome to Cook with Us @annycor!
I love the simplicity of this dish as it makes each ingredient stand out with its own flavor and texture. Looks delicious!
Thanks for sharing with us your Easter Venezuelan dish! I've learned a new word, pepitonas!
Thank you. I always follow your publications
My grandmother was catholic and used to say that you couldn't eat red meat at Easter so she made any dish with sea food. She died a couple years ago, and since then my sister and I have been giving our personal touch to her recipes.
Thank your for your follow!
I'm Catholic too. On the Fridays during Lent, we refrain from eating meat as well. Fish and seafood is what we have on those Fridays.
Nice to see you and your sister giving your personal touch to the recipes.
Your pasta with salsa de pepitona sounds great! I love clam sauce but never had one like this. I'm sure it is wonderful with the stewed clams in the béchamel sauce with some added pecorino. Thank you for Easter dish entry. Good luck!
Very interesting recipe @annycor - thanks for joining us at CwU