You’re craving clams but you can’t decide how you want to eat them. Clams casino, clam toast with olive tapenade, beer steamed clams, and fried clam strips are all calling your name. Don’t choose just one, let’s do them all!
Clams casino, the oven baked clam shells stuffed with chopped clams, crispy bacon, parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, buttery bread crumbs, and sautéed onions, garlic, and bell pepper. Who doesn’t like eating food out of a clam shell like a pirate?
Clam Toast with Olive Tapenade, thick sliced Italian or French bread topped with clams, fried linguica, garlic, herbs, parmesan, and an olive tapenade made with anchovies, green olives, capers, herbs, oil, and lemon. Briny, savory, and bright. A taste bud rollercoaster ride that you won’t want to get off of.
Beer Steamed Clams, little neck clams steamed with pale ale and then cooked with orange juice, orange zest, and watercress. Citrusy and peppery without overshadowing the taste of the ale and clams. If you’ve never tried clams like this, now is as good a time as any.
Fried clam strips, dipped in buttermilk then dredged in seasoned flour and deep fried. It doesn’t get much easier, it doesn’t get much tastier. Serve them with cocktail sauce or tartar sauce.. or both!
Each clam recipe has something unique to offer. For those of us that don’t live on the coast, clams are usually on the menu 1-2 times a year and usually in the summer. Clams are harvested in the winter as well, so don’t forget to pick some up at your local seafood market.
Try one recipe or try them all, but most importantly bring some melted butter.
Clams Casino
Ingredients
- 24 Littleneck Clams
- 1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Parmesan
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Chopped Parsley
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/8 tsp Kosher Salt/ Sea Salt
- 3 tsp Minced Garlic
- 3 Sprigs of Thyme
- 3 Slices of Cooked Bacon Chopped
- ¼ Red Onion Diced
- ½ Red Bell Pepper Diced
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flake
- 1/2 cup Clam Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Start by steaming the clams until they open.
- Remove the clam meat from the shell, chop the clam meat, and set aside.
- Pull the shells apart and lay them out neatly on a sheet tray.
- In a sauté pan, over medium heat, melt the butter into the olive oil. Add red bell pepper and red onion to the pan and cook until they soften, slightly. Add garlic, red pepper flake, thyme, and clam juice.
- Transfer the pan ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add the chopped clams, bacon, bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Scoop the stuffing into the clam shells and fill as many as you can.
- Place the sheet tray into the oven and bake until you have a crispy, golden brown crust on top (about 12 minutes).
Clam Toast with Olive Tapenade
Ingredients
Clams
- 1 Loaf of Thickly Sliced Bread Italian or French
- 2 Dozen Littleneck Clams
- 1 Minced Garlic Clove
- 1/2 cup Chopped Parsley
- 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flake
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 oz Parmesan
- 1.5 lbs Chopped and Fried Linguica
Tapenade
- 10 Chopped Anchovies
- 2 cups Green Olives Chopped
- 1 cup Parsley
- 1 cup Olive Oil
- 1/4 cup Chopped Capers
- Zest and Juice of Two Lemons
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Steam the clams until they open, remove the clam meat and chop.
- Place the chopped clams, linguica, garlic, crushed red pepper, parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl and combine.
- Lightly oil, salt, and pepper the bread and grill, toast, or bake until crispy on the outside.
- Place the clam mixture onto the toast then add a bit of the tapenade over top of the clams.
- To make the tapenade add all tapenade ingredients to a small mixing bowl and combine, it tastes better if made days in advance.
Beer Steamed Clams
Ingredients
- 2 Dozen Littleneck Clams
- 1 Beer Pale Ale or something light with a touch of citrus
- Zest and Juice of One Orange
- 1 cup Watercress
Instructions
- Place your clams into a pot and pour the beer in. Steam the clams in the pot, with the lid on until the clams open. Remove from the heat then add the watercress, orange zest, and orange juice into the pot, stir the clams, and cover for a couple of minutes then serve.
Fried Clam Strips
Ingredients
- 8 oz Clam Strips
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 2 qts Oil for Frying Canola, Sun Flower, Corn, etc.
Instructions
- Heat a small pot of oil (do not fill more than half way with oil) until it reaches a temperature of 350 degrees.
- Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl.
- In small bowl, dip the clam strips into buttermilk. Remove the strips from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour bowl. Make sure each strip is coated with flour then shake the excess flour off.
- Carefully place the strips into the hot oil. Cook for about two minutes, or until they are lightly browned.
- Place on a plate covered with paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
- Serve with lemon, tartar sauce, and/or cocktail sauce.