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How Do I Shuck a Clam? • Hold a clam in your gloved palm, rounded-side up, with the shell's hinge toward your wrist.
• Working over a bowl to catch the juices, press a clam knife or a dull pairing knife into the gap between
the shells.
• Twist the knife (moving the handle from horizontal to vertical) to separate the half-shells
• Cut the muscles on each side of the hinge, then cut the interior muscles to free the clam.
•
Scrape away meat into the bottom shell.
• Remove and discard upper shell.
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Fresh Clam Chowder 18 soft shell clams
3/4 cup cold water
1 bacon slice
1/2 small onion
1 medium boiling potato
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon packed chopped
fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves
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Scrub clams well and put in a saucepan with water. Steam clams, covered, over moderately
high heat 5 to 8 minutes, checking them every minute after 5 minutes and transferring them with tongs as they open to a bowl.
Discard any clams that are unopened after 8 minutes and reserve cooking liquid. When clams are cool enough to handle, remove
from shells and coarsely chop. Carefully pour reserved cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a small bowl, leaving any
grit in pan.
Separately chop bacon and onion. Peel potato and cut into 1/4-inch dice. In cleaned pan cook bacon in butter
over moderate heat, stirring, until golden. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened. Stir in potatoes and cooking liquid.
Simmer mixture, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in clams, half-and-half, and pepper to taste and
cook until heated through, about 1 minute (do not let boil). Stir in parsley.
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Fresh Baked Clams
2 dozen clams, well scrubbed
2
tablespoons water
1/4 cup butter
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons
breadcrumbs (Italian style)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
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Put clams in a large kettle or clam pot with the
water; cook over moderate heat, just until the shells open.
Remove from the heat and when cool enough to handle, pluck
the whole clams from the shells; save half the shells.
Meanwhile, blend together the butter, garlic, parsley and bread
crumbs.
Set each clam back into a half shell and spread about a teaspoon of the mixture atop each clam in a shell.
Arrange filled shells in a baking dish and broil 4" from the heat source until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes.
Serve with lemon wedges.
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Fresh Linguine with White Clam Sauce 2 dozen clams or 1 15oz can of whole baby clams
1-2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves
of garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 cup dry white wine plus more if
cooking the fresh clams
1 cup clam juice or clam cooking liquid
1 lemon, zested
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup (or more) of romano or parmigianno cheese
1 lb dried or fresh linguine or other thin pasta
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To cook the clams, place them in a deep saute pan and fill the pan with half
white wine and half water so that the clams are almost completely covered (we threw some parsley into this mix too). Cook
them until they just open. You don’t want to over cook or even fully cook them here since they will be put back in the
pan at the end.
Remove the clams and reduce this liquid down for a few minutes. The left over liquid can be used in
place of the clam juice. If you don’t have a full cup you can supplement the difference with chicken broth or bottled
clam juice. Set your cooked clams and your clam cooking liquid aside.
In a large pot, boil and salt your pasta water.
If using dried pasta, cook it very al dente because it will be added to the clam sauce to absorb some of the liquid.
Heat
the same pan or another deep saute pan over medium heat with the olive oil, add the garlic. Add the thyme and the white wine.
Reduce the wine for a minute. Add the clam juice/cooking liquid and lemon zest. Add your drained pasta and the clams. Toss
with the sauce for 2 -3 minutes.
Right before serving add the parsley and cheese to your preference.
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