Palourde Mariniere

This is a twist on Moule Mariniere, which is basically just mussels steamed in wine, butter, and herbs. I really like small clams, such as manila clams, so I've taken this recipe and pretty much swapped mussels for clams and softened the flavors a little.

Ingredients:
- Small clams. Manila clams from the local asian stores will do nicely.
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- White cooking wine
- Garlic
- Fresh or dried herbs - oregano, herb de provence, etc
- Fresh Lemon or Lime is optional

Cooking:
- Heat about 2 tablespoons each of butter and olive oil until the butter melts.
- Simmer garlic on low temperature so butter doesn't burn, until garlic is browned slightly
- Turn heat very high, add about 1 cup wine and any herbs. Bring the wine to a boil.
- When wine boils, toss in clams
- We are going to wait until all the clams open. This will take some judgement. Boil for a couple minutes with no lid and this will reduce the wine a bit. Some of the clams may not open, so cover with a lid and boil until they do. Do not boil all the wine down, we want between 1/4 and 1/2 cup wine left for the sauce.
- Clams that refuse to open are evil, and should be discarded.
- That's it! Serve in a nice bowl with bread on the side.

Notes:
- The clams should be small. Asian stores have Manila clams which tend to be very small. I like ones that are a little larger, and there are nice east coast varieties in stores like Whole Foods. The quality of the clams is critical for this dish obviously, don't buy cheap ones.