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Bobby Flay Night made its debut at my house on Sunday in the form of Shrimp and Littleneck Clams with Wild Rice Waffles and Candied Mango Butter. Seafood and waffles, together at last!! Some of you are, no doubt, confused by this combination but, let me tell you, it works. It's the same principle of having bread or a roll to sop up the soupy goodness.

This dish is a soup-based curry and turned out to be more rich than we bargained for. It has ½ cup of both heavy cream and coconut milk and, seeing how this dish can serve four, I thought it could use a little more of each but I followed the recipe for fear of screwing it up royally and was glad I stuck to the script. Neither my wife or I could finish our bowls. We picked out and ate the seafood and spooned some of the vegetables onto the waffles but we just couldn't finish the broth off.

If you're not a big fan of clams or shrimp or seafood in general, this dish probably isn't for you but my wife isn't a big shellfish fan either (something about the texture and them looking like bugs) and I told her she had to try at least one clam and one shrimp and she ended up eating all of the ones in her bowl.   I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was enjoying them so don't sell yourself short on this one. You may not have liked clams when you were seven but now you are a sophisticated adult with a mature palette; clams and shrimp may be your new favorite things.

Now to the recipe – I made a few substitutions but other than that I stuck to the recipe. The first substitution was that I used Manila clams rather than Littleneck clams. They are almost identical in shape, size and taste and they even grow near each other so this is not a big deal. I found both my shrimp and clams at Lee Lee Asian Market, one of my all time favorite stores. Imagine that the world has one central grocery store with a little bit of everything from everywhere in it; that's Lee Lee. I paid about $10 for my shrimp and clams together and ended up with left over shrimp.

TIP: You may want to overshoot what you need for clams just in case you get any dead ones or if any die before you use them. More on that later.

I also purchased my coconut milk and mango at Lee Lee. Wild rice can be found at most grocery stores and a little box should be all you need. Mine cost $2 and made more than the recipe required. The rest of the things I bought were produce items which are usually super cheap and easy to find.

TIP: Wild Rice takes a full hour to cook so be sure to plan your time accordingly.

Another substitution I made was chicken broth instead of the white wine. Since I don't drink or cook with alcohol, this make for a cheap and easy alternative. You can also use white grape juice as an alternative to white wine but I didn't think the sweetness of the juice would go as well with the curry.

The last swap out I did was I used chicken stock instead of shrimp stock. Bobby gives a recipe on how to make your own but I was looking to keep my budget low and I couldn't find shrimp stock at Lee Lee though I was told they had it (language barrier). I also used an pre-made curry powder rather than stock my pantry with more spices to make Bobby's Mesa curry mixture.

One note about the butter before I end this; it's awesome. I left out the cilantro because I wanted to be able to use it on toast or whatever else I can find. If you're not going to try the curry recipe, at least try the butter (minus the cilantro). You won't be sorry.

Shrimp and Littleneck Clams with Wild Rice Waffles with Candied Mango Butter

Ingredients

Wild Rice Waffles:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
  
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  
• 2 cups cooked wild rice
  
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
  
• 2 large eggs
  

Directions

Preheat your Belgian waffle iron. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the wild rice and stir just until the mixture is well combined, season well with salt and pepper to taste. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, beat together the milk, buttermilk and eggs. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir together with the whisk until just combined. Stir in the wild rice mixture. Lightly butter the grids of the waffle iron, if needed. Spoon out 1 cup of batter onto the hot iron. The batter will be thick so spread with a metal spatula. Close the lid and bake until the waffle is golden and crisp. Remove from the iron and cut into quarters

Mesa Curry Mixture:

• 3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
  
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, ground
  
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, ground
  
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
  
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon cloves
  
• Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
  

Sauce: 1 tablespoon olive oil 12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped 2 tablespoons Mesa Curry Mix 1 cup white wine 6 cups shrimp stock 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup coconut milk 2 tablespoons light brown sugar Salt and freshly ground pepper 14 littleneck clams, scrubbed
Heat the oil in a medium saute pan over high heat until almost smoking. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper to taste and saute for 1-2 minutes on each side until almost cooked through. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, apples and curry and cook until soft. Raise the heat to high, add the wine and cook until reduced. Add the stock and cook until reduced by half. Reduce heat to medium, whisk in the cream, coconut milk and brown sugar and cook until slightly thickened. Add the shrimp and the clams and cook until the clams open. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Candied Mango Cilantro Butter:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons honey
  
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
  
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened
  
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
  
• Heat the brown sugar and honey in small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar has melted and is bubbling. Add the mango and cook over medium-low heat until the mango is soft and caramelized. Place in a food processor and process until smooth, remove to a bowl and let cool. Place butter in a food processor and add mango puree and process until smooth. Fold in cilantro, scrape into a medium ramekin and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
  

Assemble:

• Ladle the sauce into a bowl. Place 3 shrimp and 4 clams in each bowl. Top with 2 waffle quarters and a dollop of the candied mango butter. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
  
• Yield: 4 servings
  

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