Clams Casino

Growing up Chef Brian’s family was friends with an older gentlemen named Pete. Pete would make two dishes that would forever be remembered well beyond his passing over 30 years ago. The two dishes were Fried Cardoons and Clams Casino. When Pete would make either or these and bring them to family gatherings, they were devoured. This recipe is an homage to Pete and one of his infamous recipes that he perfected beyond perfection.
The first step in the Clams Casino process is to wash your littleneck clams. Just run them underwater and clean off any debris on the outside of the shells. Purging them might be an option too if you are worried about them being sandy. To purge them you just put them into a salt water solution. The water should be at room temperature if they were harvested in the summer and around 40 degrees Fahrenheit if they were harvested in the winter. Let the clams sit in the solution for 30 minutes. The saltwater solution ratio is 2 tablespoons of sea salt to 1 liter/quart of water. After the clams being in the salt water for 30 minutes you will see residue forming at the bottom of the container you are using. Scoop the clams out and get ready to steam them.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. You don’t need the oven just yet but have it hot and ready.
To steam the clams add a cup of water to a small pot or sauté pan and place it over high heat. Add the clams to the pot/pan and cover with a lid to steam. Once all of the clam shells open, they are cooked, it should only take a few minutes once it gets steamy. Remove the clams that have opened and set them aside while waiting for the others to open. If you have stubborn clams they are most likely dead and it is best to discard them.
Once the clams have cooled down enough to handle, remove the clam meat from the clam shells. Chop the clam meat into small pieces. Don’t chop them too fine, just a coarse chop will do. Set the chopped clam meat aside for now.
Pull the clam shells apart to make two halves and arrange them on a baking pan/sheet tray.
In a sauté pan, over medium heat, melt together butter and olive oil. If you haven’t cooked your bacon yet, add raw chopped bacon to the pan and cook down the bacon until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy. Add red bell pepper and red onion to the pan and cook until they soften. Add garlic, red pepper flake, thyme, and clam juice to the pan and continue to cook for another two minutes before removing from the heat.
Transfer the ingredients from the sauté pan into a mixing bowl. Add the chopped clams, breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly until you have a uniform stuffing.
Scoop the stuffing into the clam shells and fill as many as you can. Try to fill the clam shell enough so that is slightly filled above the clam shell.
Place the stuffed clams back onto the sheet tray and bake in the oven until you have a crispy and golden brown crust on top of each clam. This usually will be around 12 minutes for an accurate oven. Broiling works here too, just be careful to not scorch the stuffing.
Let the clams rest for a few minutes and then make sure you’re first in line to get some.
Side note, you don’t have to use the littleneck clam shells. If you have collected and saved larger clam shells you can use them instead. Chef Brian’s family collected clam shells just to use for Clams Casino, so think about that the next time you’re at the beach.