The Dough Bros make a New Haven classic in New Quay, Clare
Words: The Dough Bros
Images: The Dough Bros
The Dough Bros in Galway is one of the most beloved pizza joints in the entire country. They are constantly raising the game with delicious pies and an unflinching passion for creativity and experimentation. And now the Dough Bros themselves have popped off their aprons and picked up a couple of pens to share with you lovely Charlings the story behind a recent pizza and seafood mash-up inspired by a Connecticut classic that’s the stuff of dreams.
What follows is a first hand account in their own words, of their epic journey from Galway to Clare where they whipped up pizzas using fresh seafood from Linnane’s Lobster Bar. They even shared the recipe at the end so you can make your own Clam Pie at home.
One of the best parts about having a pizza restaurant is that we get to head off every now and again to try some of the best pizza in the world and call it research. That’s exactly what we were doing earlier this year when we found ourselves in New Haven trying the coal fired, white clam pizza in Frank Pepe’s. It blew the socks off us.
Listening to the owners talk about how they made this world famous pizza with ingredients from their surroundings, we noticed a lot of similarities between their ethos and ours. Boarding the plane back to Ireland, we decided to make the most of our location in the west of Ireland to create our own version of the clam pizza at home.
Working with local suppliers to find the best toppings and ingredients is something that we’ve done since the very beginning, but we haven’t had a shellfish pizza on the menu since the Prawn Po’ Boy a couple of years back. To pull this off we’ll need to call in a favour from some friends. We’d met Mark Commins and Conor Graham on the session at the Food and Wine Awards and had stopped in to see them at Linnane’s Lobster Bar in New Quay on the Flaggy Shore in Clare a few months ago. We were blown away by the quality of the food, we knew that if we were going to make this pizza, we’d have to get our clams from them.
Planning the drive from Galway to the Flaggy Shore we decide to make a trip out of it to see more of the coast and cook outside again with our pizza kits and our Gozney pizza oven. As we load up the back of the jeep, we can’t wait to get going and try even more of the top quality produce that we’ve got on our doorstep.
Meandering drive through the Clare countryside and along narrow coastal roads, we reach the Flaggy Shore. This patch of sea is unique. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake created a tsunami that made its way north to Ireland and caused such havoc that Aughinish, just 150m away, is now separated from New Quay by a body of water and a 20 minute drive. All of this carry on makes for great conditions for catching fish and gathering shellfish though.
“An uncle of mine is one of the only wild clam fishermen in Ireland” says Mark, one of the owners of Linnane’s, as he gestures towards the water from the pier. “He gets them from these waters, then we bring them into the pools in the sheds where we purify our clams, oysters, and lobsters to the highest standards possible. Once they’re ready to go, we walk them over to the restaurant and cook them for our guests.” We can’t get over how close the entire production circle is. It’s all done within the space of a few steps. “Farm to table is a bit of a buzzword with some restaurants, we’ve got more of a ‘sea to served’ approach here.”
The lads have done an unreal job since taking over Linnane’s. It’s proper west coast quality but there’s no faff, it’s just great food and pints in a truly unique setting. The bar is a lively one and the local shellfish gets a shout out here too with the Flaggy Shore stout, made with local oysters by Galway Bay Brewery, on tap.
But on a sunny day, or even on a drizzly summer day like today, outside on the patio is the place to be. The views are unbelievable. Before getting started on our own creations, head chef Alec Foster and co-owner Conor spoil us rotten with mountains of shellfish–Thai spiced oysters, crispy buffalo fried oysters, and a warm seafood platter made up of grilled lobster, tiger prawns, clams, and oysters. It was like a scene straight from Chef’s Table.
Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch though so it’s time to pay the lads back and whip up a couple of pizzas for them. Making pizzas on the go is something we love doing. We’ve made them at gaff parties, bar mitzvahs, weddings, down the Spanish Arch in Galway, looking out at the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin, and now we’re firing up the Gozney at Linnane’s. In typical Irish fashion, it’s raining on and off.
A crowd of Linnane’s regulars starts to gather to see whether or not these bowsies from Galway can make a pizza. As we start to see leoparding form on the crust and clams sizzle under the heat, the pizza is pulled out and sliced up for our audience. Every slice is snapped up the moment I put the pizza down. A few seconds pass by, nobody is talking, we can only hear people chewing as we wait to hear how they are.
“So when are ye opening up a permanent spot in Linnane’s lads?” asks one of the men in between bites of his slice. “It’s a winner. A real winner.” You can’t get better praise than that.
Make your own The Dough Bros x Linnanes Clam Pie
If all that pizza talk has wetted your whistle, you can follow our recipe below to make your very own version at home.
For the clams:
•4x long shallots
•2x cloves of garlic 9 (thinly sliced)
•350ml double cream
•30g butter
•2x handfuls clams
•1x lemon
•Parsley
•Dill
•50g Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Instructions:
1 Whack your pan on medium heat and add your EVOO.
2 Add your shallots and garlic and sweat until they turn translucent. You don’t want too much colour here.
3 Add in your double cream and cook for 4-5 minutes.
4 Add in your butter and your clams and give it all a good shake.
5 Pop on your lid and cook on medium flame in your Gozney oven, or if cooking at home cook on medium heat on the hob.
6 Cook for 3-5 minutes. You’ll know the clams are ready when they all open up.
7 Cut your lemon in half and give a good squeeze over your clams. Add in your chopped parsley and dill to taste and give it all a good stir.
8 Eat with your hands! But make sure you put some aside for the pizza later.
9 Keep the creamy stock the clams cooked in as well. Sieve, to get rid of any loose shell, and reduce down to a rich, thick consistency. This will be the base for your pizza later.
For the gremolata breadcrumb:
•40g Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
•20g garlic grated
•90g breadcrumb
•Pinch of herbes de Provence or thyme
•1/2 lemon zest
•Salt / black pepper to taste
Instructions:
1 Add your EVOO and garlic into your pan and bring up to low-medium heat from cold.
2 Cook for 5-7 minutes until the garlic has infused into the olive oil. You don’t want to brown the garlic. Low and slow is the way to go here.
3 Add in your breadcrumb and give it all a good mix.
4 Keep cooking on low – medium heat unit breadcrumbs have absolved all the garlic oil and toasted to a light brown colour.
5 Take off the heat and add your herbs de Provence, lemon zest, salt and black pepper and give it all a stir.
6 Store at room temp.
The Dough Bros x Linnanes Clam Pie:
•200-250g dough ball or even better, save yourself the hassle and use one of our pizza bases.
•3 tbsp seasoned cream (from above)
•70g mozzarella – We use Sabanero Galway mozzarella. Keep an eye out for this beautiful cheese. Toons Bridge is also a great choice.
•10g Kylemore mature grated fine
•10-14 Clams: De-shelled and halved or quartered.
•1-2 tbsp Gremolata Breadcrumb
•Calabrian chilli or chilli flakes to your taste.
Instructions:
1 Get your Gozney on full whack and let it get up to temp for approx 30 minutes. Once ready, build your clam pie below.
2 Open up your dough ball to approx 10’’ in size. Or use a Dough Bros Neapolitan pizza base.
3 Add your seasoned cream to the base as mentioned above.
4 Add your grated Kylemore and mozzarella cheese.
5 Add in your clams. You want approx 3-4 pieces per slice.
6 That’s all before the oven. Give your pizza a final stretch and pop it into your Gozney oven at full whack.
7 Cook for approx 2 mins in your Gozney or OONI until your pizza dough has cooked all the way around and the base has a nice char. Make sure all your cheese has melted and has browned a little.
8 Take your pie out. Add a good helping of your breadcrumb for that crunch.
9 Add your chilli all around. You just want enough to add a little heat.
10 Add a wedge of lemon, squeeze it all over, slice it up and get stuck in.
The Dough Bro’s epic adventure to Co. Clare is documented on film too so make sure you give it a peep here.
Elsewhere on Char: Char’s Ultimate Food Guide: Pizza
