There’s a million things I love about traveling, but the one that shoots right to the top of the list is recreating the restaurant dishes we’ve tried along the way.

In San Francisco, there is no shortage of incredible seafood or sourdough bread. And when they’re both featured? Well, how much better can life be?

This is a riff of a broth-y seafood dish I tried back in Cali. I couldn’t find sourdough at the market that day, so I went with a hearty rosemary bread that I broiled in the oven with olive oil until it was crunchy. I call this dish “Summer in a Bowl” because it features so many of my favorite summer-y ingredients.

With no further adieu, here is my recipe that I’ve been perfecting for a couple of years now.

Summer in a Bowl (Clams in a Spicy Tomato Broth with Andouille and Sweet Corn)

1/2 of a yellow onion (small dice)

5 garlic cloves minced (fewer if you don’t like it as garlicky as I do)

1 fennel bulb (small dice like the onion)

1 14oz can of tomatoes (I love these extra sweet guys from Giadzy)

1 cup of your favorite dry white wine or chicken broth

6 T butter (cut into pieces)

1 pound of Littleneck clams (scrubbed)

12 oz Andouille sausage (I like Cajun Hollar)

1 cup sweet corn (fresh preferably but frozen works too)

1 generous pinch saffron

1 lemon

1/2 c. chopped flat leaf parsley

2 generous pinches red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it)

salt and pepper

Soak clams in a bowl filled with cold water for at least 20 minutes. This will eliminate any grit. With a clean kitchen towel, gently clean all the shells. Drain the water and set aside.

Slice the Andouille into rounds. I remove the casing for this dish but that’s a personal choice. 🙂

In your favorite soup pot or Dutch oven, warm up a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil sizzles a bit, place the Andouille rounds in the pan to brown. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan and brown in two batches. When the sausage has enough color for your liking on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside to use later.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan and add in the onion and fennel and saute until translucent. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and pepper to season them and stir. Being careful not to burn it, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for a minute or so until it’s fragrant. Add the tomatoes, a generous sprinkle of salt, the saffron, and the wine or stock. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half—around five minutes.

Add the clams and the butter to the pot and cover it (if you don’t have a lid that fits tightly, foil will work). Cook until your clams have opened (between 6-10 minutes). If the majority have all opened and any remain closed, discard the closed clams. Nestle the sausage in the opened clams and throughout the broth as desired. Add in the corn, sprinkle with parsley, squeeze in half of a lemon’s worth of juice, and stir. Check for seasonings and add extra salt or pepper as desired.

Serve in a shallow bowl with your favorite bread that’s drizzled with olive oil and broiled until golden brown.