CLEANING CLAMS I love clams so much that I opened a restaurant just blocks from Little Owl with my business partner, friend, and amazing chef Mike Price called The Clam. At The Clam, we celebrate one of nature’s most perfect foods—a sustainable, low-fat, high-protein gift that tastes like the sea and the wind. Your littleneck clams will most likely come from a fishmonger or grocery store where they may already have the sand and grit removed from them. But, just to be sure, I want you to do this simple prep step before cooking them: Place the clams in a large, deep bowl and fill with very cold water until completely submerged. Add a handful of flour to the water—this forces the clams to purge themselves of any sand or impurities that might be inside them. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove each clam one by one (any grit will have sunk to the bottom, so don’t stir it up by draining them) and use a stiff brush to give each one a quick scrub under cold running water to be sure they are free of sand and grit.
For my fortieth birthday, I gathered some friends in Miami, opened lots of wine, cooked up some gorgeous littleneck clams, and served them with garlic-rubbed crusty bread to dip in the clam broth and soak up the juices. My dear old friend Gerad Argeros earnestly asked me, “Hey, Joe, what do you call this?” And “juicy bread” was born. Sometimes, you just gotta call a thing what it is. (It’s good, so make a lot and serve it often!) For the record, littleneck clams, cherrystone clams, and topneck clams all belong to the same species of clam; they are just of varying sizes. And littleneck clams are the perfect size for a light meal or an appetizer. Save the larger cherrystones for their beautiful, natural clam broth, and serve them chopped up for my Spaghetti and Clams (page 107).
SERVES 4 AS AN APPETIZER OR 2 AS A MAIN COURSE
Clams
4 lb [1.8 kg] littleneck clams, cleaned and removed of sand and grit (see note, above)
1 cup [220 g] butter, at room temperature
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 large garlic cloves, finely diced
1 Tbsp sambal chili paste
1 tsp celery salt
1 cup [240 ml] dry vermouth
1 lemon
Twelve 1/2 in [12 mm] thick slices crusty baguette
2 whole garlic cloves, peeled
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Maldon sea sat flakes
To prepare the clams: In a large, deep pot, combine the clams, butter, parsley, garlic, chili paste, celery salt, and vermouth. Using a fine grater (such as a Microplane), remove the zest from the lemon and add it to the pot. Cut the zested lemon in half, squeeze the juice into the pot, and cover. Turn the heat to high and cook until the clams fully open, about 10 minutes.
To prepare the juicy bread: Preheat your broiler.
Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast under the broiler for 1 minute. Turn and toast the other side for 1 minute more—watch it closely, they can burn fast! When the bread is cool enough to handle, use your hands to rub the peeled garlic cloves all over one side of the crusty bread. The texture of the bread grates the garlic until it disappears. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt flakes.
Divide the clams among four bowls and top with slices of the bread. Serve immediately.