from rhode island to montana.....

when i got home from work, i asked the beautiful mrs. tas if a box from rhode island came in today. her nonchalant reply was, "oh - you got one a few days ago...."

 

REALLY!

 

i found the box in our utility room, and noticed that the kids must have taken a look inside, since the tape was barely hanging on. dave, if anything is missing, please let me know so that i can have a talk with them!

 

so like a kid on christmas morning, i opened it up and found some real rhode island goodies inside:

 

 

leading the list were the two tins of anchovies that he sent. both brands of imported anchovies are from morocco and are not available in my area:

 

 

both tins contain flat fillets of anchovies in olive oil with salt added. the roland brand proudly proclaims that their anchovies are WILD CAUGHT. we shall see if this makes any difference.

 

next, we had these gems - imported squids (lulas) from spain, stewed octopus (polvo de caldeirada) from portugal and cockles (berbigao), a product of portugal, evidently caught off the galacian coast:

 

 

the squids are in something called american sauce, which evidently consists of tomato, oil, various spices and salt. the octopus is in a similar sauce, also WILD CAUGHT off the coast of galacia. the cockles are ao natural, which means that they in their own brine.

 

i am in land-locked montana, so i hope everyone cuts me some slack. i have of course heard of squid and octopus, but have only eaten octopus once, in a badly-prepared chinese meal in the exact center of the aforementioned land-locked montana - so, i am looking forward to trying these. as for the cockles, the only thing i know about them are that their shells are in a nursery rhyme along with bluebells. regardless, this is probably the only time i will ever get to try these, so i have no idea whether it would be better to eat these three unique treats out of the tin, or prepare them in a spanish or portuguese dish. dave - any suggestions for getting the best bang for the buck? straight? or as part of a dish?

 

finally, the box contained new england specialties that i have heard a lot about:

 

I sure haven't Ron....I'm sure they would be ok, but my basic clam sauce would be olive oil, garlic, some shallot, the clams with their juice...then maybe a bit of heavy cream to thicken and serve over pasta.

I'd also season with whatever made sense at the time, and add a bit of parsley for color.

I got your email by the way, and sent off a recipe.