In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, sauté the fennel and the garlic until the fennel is soft. Add manila clams and deglaze with white wine.
Add Fumet or stock. Cover the pan with a lid.
Once the clams open, turn off the heat and discard all but a handful of the clam shells.
Drop the pasta into seasoned boiling water, cook according to directions, until it is al dente.
Just before the pasta is done, turn clam sauce back on medium-high heat (no lid).
Drain the pasta and add it and the, neonata, black pepper and leeks to the clams sauce. Turn the heat to high.
Drizzle ¼ cup olive oil into the sauce and emulsify, by flipping the pasta in the pan or stirring gently with tongs. The water, starch and oil will come together to form a homogenous sauce. The finished product should be moist, but not watery.
Add the chopped herbs.
Add fresh lemon to taste, and season with a final dose of salt and pepper. Plate in a warm bowl and pour the remaining clams and sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining parsley and finish with a tablespoon of your best olive oil.
Nico Osteria’s chef de cuisine and 2015 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef: Great Lakes” nominee, Erling Wu-Bower’s focus and intensity has driven him to great creative heights in his pursuit of invoking the spirit of coastal Italy in the states. Wu-Bower started his culinary career under Chef Paul Kahan’s tutelage, and has worked with One Off ever since.
Cooking runs in Wu-Bower’s blood; his mother is an accomplished food writer and his father a food loving Cajun. He had little choice but to pursue a career in what he was taught and loved most—food. “I don’t know what else I’d do; cooking has been ingrained in my soul. There aren’t many people who get to go to work and practice their passion every day.” Family came first, but at an early age Wu-Bower found mentorship in acclaimed chef, and close family friend, Rick Bayless—it was Bayless who inspired his love of seafood, teaching him to expertly prepare fish.
After attending the University of Notre Dame as a philosophy student, Wu-Bower joined Chef Paul Kahan’s culinary team at avec as a cook. A few years later he opened The Publican as Sous Chef, and there under the careful watch of Brian Huston, learned what it meant to be a chef. Wu-Bower stayed with The Publican until it outgrew its space, crossing Green Street to help open Publican Quality Meats, where he served as Executive Sous Chef of both kitchens. Wu-Bower then returned to avec as Chef de Cuisine, where he embraced the restaurant’s core cuisine while making the menu his own. In 2013, Wu-Bower embarked on his biggest challenge to date, opening Nico Osteria. There, he combines his love of fresh seafood and ingredient-driven fare to produce a singularly memorable dining experience.
Portrait by: Derek Richmond
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