I was reminded when writing
this of a recipe I have made from time-to-time over the past many years. Very simple; I think it came out of a one food mag or another.
1 3 or 4-inch piece fresh ginger, frozen, then thawed just before use
2 c dashi
2 c water
2 dozen Manila or littleneck clams, scrubbed well
3 T white miso
1 T red miso
1 t soy sauce
3 scallions, thinly sliced
Unwrap the thawed ginger and, using the wrap to keep your fingers from directly contacting the ginger, squeeze it well over a small bowl to extract the juice. You should have 1.5-2 t. Reserve.
Mix the dashi with the water in a pot and place over med-high heat. Add the clams, cover and simmer till clams open, about 7-10 minutes, depending on the clams. (Discard clams that do not open.) Remove the pot from the heat and gently transfer clams to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
Remove the clam meat from the shells; reserve meat and 8 of the shells separately. Strain broth plus any juices from the reserved clam meats through a very fine sieve or a coffee filter. Rinse the pot.
Return the broth to the pot and bring to a simmer. Remove 3/4 c or so of the hot broth to a bowl, then, using the miso-in-sieve technique mentioned above, add both misos to the sieve and dip into the bowl, pressing the misos through.
Add the ginger juice and soy sauce to the large pot. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the miso-broth mix from the bowl.
Place 2 clam shells in each of 4 serving bowls. Divide the clam meats evenly and place them in the shells, 3 meats to a shell. Gently ladle the broth into the bowls. Top with the sliced scallion; serve immediately.