MAKES ABOUT 36 CLAMS
This is classic New England comfort food at its best. We made a mountain of these for a Nantucket Food Pantry benefit one autumn evening. We were out of clams in thirty minutes! No one could resist these gems with their crispy tops and pillowy interior. Adding freshly shucked oysters turns this recipe into the best oyster dressing for Thanksgiving!
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups chopped bacon
½ cup chopped red onion
½ cup chopped celery
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 cups fresh untoasted breadcrumbs
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 dozen live littleneck or cherrystone clams, scrubbed
½ cup white wine
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large cast-iron skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy. (Do not drain the fat from the pan.) Add the onion, celery, garlic, rosemary, and thyme and cook for 5 minutes, leaving the vegetables with a little crunch. Pour the bacon and vegetable mixture into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs and chopped parsley. Mix together quickly and set aside.
Place the clams and white wine in a large saucepan, cover, and steam over high heat until the clams are open. Once cool enough to handle, remove the clams from the shells and coarsely chop the meat; reserve the shells. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel.
Add the chopped clams and 1 cup of the clam cooking liquid to the stuffing. Toss to combine evenly. Arrange 36 shells on a baking sheet and divide the stuffing evenly among them. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops become crispy. Serve immediately with the lemon wedges.