Cook and Drink

At The Beach

Many, far too many years ago we were walking along the Mediterranean coast, enjoying the sea, the sun and the company of a dear friend. She asked us if we would like to eat tellines for dinner. “Yes of course” we replied, “but what are tellines?” She smiled and said “I’ll show you”. She walked to the sea and kneeled down, just where the sand and the sea meet. All you needed to do was move your fingers through the sand, just under the surface and feel. She harvested a few tellines, opened them with her fingers, washed them in the sea and that’s how we enjoyed our very first tellines. Fresh from the sea: simple, tasty and good.
We harvested many more and went back to her house where we cooked the tellines in a hot skillet and enjoyed them with a beautiful local ro­sé.

Harvesting tellines is simple; knowing where you can do this is a challenge. Fortunately you can (occasionally) find them on the market.

It’s possible to use other small clams, but the fun of tellines is that they open quickly when in the pan, making sure they remain juicy. The meat of the tellines is soft and moist and they come with a nutty, savoury flavour.

Wine Pairing

Obviously a glass of Cô­tes de Pro­ven­ce ro­sé will be a great choice, for instance an Estandon from the Var region.

What You Need

• 300 grams of Tellines
• one Shallot
• one Garlic Glove
• Olive Oil
• Parsley
• White Wine
• Black Pepper

What You Do

Wash the tellines, preferably using salted water. Discard ones with a small hole and ones that are broken. Chop the shallot (you probably need half of it) and the garlic very fine. Heat the skillet, add the oil, the shallot, the garlic and the tellines and cook until the tellines are open. You may want to add a splash of white wine during the cooking process. Serve the tellines on a warm plate with black pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
No cutlery needed!

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