Just before the winter break, Juventus again face Cagliari Calcio, whom we knocked out of the Coppa Italia race just a week ago. While we’re comfortably on top of the league table, we simply can’t let their bitter loss get the better of us this Friday. Of course, we’re getting ready the same way that il Mister is gearing up the lads for this match – by serving something simple that will still rock their boat.

As John explained in the last Cagliari-inspired dish back in May, the city of Cagliari pretty much has everything within its reach when it comes to food. Sardinia is very popular for its roasted suckling pig, seafood, and baked goods.

In other words: heaven.

It somehow reminds me of the seaside province that my grandmother hails from, and that is why Sardinian cuisine interests me greatly, even if I’ve never set foot on any Italian island.

While Sardinia is known for dishes like malloreddus and la cassòla, time constraints prevent us from delving into tricky stuff. This is a Friday match, after all. So today, we’re working on a very simple starter that features clams, straight from The Sardinia Cookbook.

This dish would go very well with the same white wine that we’re using in this dish. It would also make for a nice bar chow, with beer on the side.

Difficulty: Very easy
Price: About $7 (add $10 if you want a good bottle of dry white wine)
Time: 10 minutes to cook, but prepare the clams 2 hours in advance

Ingredients

• 2 pounds clams, soaked and cleaned
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed, not chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• a bunch of parsley, finely chopped, or 1/2 cup parsley flakes
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Modifications:
I didn’t make any modifications, except for halving everything just because I worked with half of the required amount of clams.

Directions

1. Clean the clams by soaking them in cold water with salt for two to three hours, ideally. Make sure to keep them in the fridge. If you want to speed it up, you can also scrub the grit off the shells with a brush.

2. While you’re soaking the clams, it would be good to start juicing the lemon and chopping the garlic and parsley.

3. Sauté the garlic in oil in low heat and add half of the parsley.

4. Turn up the heat when you see a hint of brown on the garlic and add the clams to the mix.

5.Add the wine and lemon juice, and then season with salt. Cook on high heat for two minutes and watch as the clams start to open up. This part is actually quite fun! Give the pan a shake so that all the clams get a little bit of the liquid. Remove clams that won’t open, those just won’t do.

6. Now add your bread crumbs. Turn down the heat and cook for another 5 minutes or until all of the juices have evaporated. Just before removing from the pan add the rest of the parsley.

7. Serve hot with wedges of lemon and slices of toasted bread.

8. Consume. Imagine the breadcrumbs are just like Pirlo, building up the play and pulling the strings in midfield, and the zesty, tangy clam a mind-blowing finish by Quagliarella.

Mangiare è l’unica cosa che… Conte!

Back by popular demand, TeamEATS is a culinary guide to cooking and consuming the opposition. Each week, we pick a recipe from the home cuisine of Juve’s upcoming adversary, put on the kitchen apron and… cook it and eat it. Buon Appetito!