Vacations are for indulging.

We headed down to Southern Cal. armed with good intentions.  Since we were staying at my son's house, I could could most of our meals and keep both our expenses and our waist line in check. 

First thing, even before we left,  hungry and nothing in the house I wanted to prepare, we let the chef at Redfish prepare my favorite clams in red sauce. 


Ingredients:
1C of cherry tomatoes
1 bunch of thyme
1/2 lemon
1C of Pinot Gris
3T Olive oil
2 pats of butter
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb of fresh clams cleaned and de-sanded.

Saute' the garlic in olive oil and butter.  Add the clams and steam, covered for 10 minutes. Remove the clams and dispose of those that didn't open. Keep aside.
Add the cherry tomatoes to the olive oil  and saute' until soft.
Pour the Pinot Gris, and add the thyme.
Add salt and pepper as needed.
Return the clams to the sauce, and warm them up.
Serve in a deep bowl, with toast points or crusty bread to soak up the juices.

You can indulge in Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir. I prefer mine to be from the Willamette Valley, right here in Oregon.

Enjoy!