Conquilhas, you can never have enough of them. I remember in my childhood we used to make competitions for who could eat it the fastest. It’s a fun dish to make and usually goes very well with a cold drink, beer or vinho verde.
What do you need:
- 1Kg of conquilhas
- 4 table spoons of olive oil
- 4 – 6 garlic cloves
- cilantro
- lemon wedges
Usually you’ll get your conquilhas in sea water. When you arrive home you will notice that probably they have laid off some sand, in this case it’s recommended to leave them for around 24h so all the sand gets purged and the conquilhas are clean.
Then add some olive oil to a pan together with the garlic and let it fry until the garlic is golden; remove the conquilhas from the water and put them to the pan with some cilandro and cover everything with a lid letting it cook for about 20min (for 1Kg).
Occasionally check the conquilhas and give them a stir, making sure to mix the top ones and bottom ones. When all shells are open it means it’s done — some might not open, this is normal and if on one side it doesn’t mean they are not good, on the other hand you might not want to risk it.
Don’t forget to give them a lemon squeeze and eat it with some bread which is great to dip in the sauce.