Baked Clams Casino
Posted By admin On 22/03/22Basically chopped clams, usually but not always quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria), mixed with breadcrumbs or crushed crackers, with sauteed onion, celery and green pepper, sometimes bits of bacon, and often hot sauce and/or Worcestershire. “Clams Casino!” is one of Michael McCarty’s favorite “Michaelisms,” an expression he loves to exuberantly cheer to his staff, family, friends, and guests when he feels like he’s living the high life. This classic broiled clams recipe, perfect for a party, never goes out of fashion. Adapted from “Welcome to Michael’s” by Michael McCarty. Click here to see Oscar Night Cocktail. Arrange the clams in the reserved shells on the baking sheet. Spoon the vegetable mixture atop the clams, dividing equally and mounding slightly. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss together bread crumbs, paprika, olive oil and garlic. Place clams in a flat baking dish. Mount some of the bread crumb mixture on each clam.
- Saute first 4 ingredients in a large skillet, simmering for a few minutes. Combine and add the next 7 ingredients and then add the stuffing slowly until you have an oatmeal consistency.
Typically when we’re at an Italian restaurant and there’s baked clams on the menu we order them. Baked clams are the perfect starter to a nice Italian meal.
Have you ever wanted to make them at home? They’re very easy to make and personally I like them much better home made. They’re a lovely appetizer for a special meal. I recently made a full tray of baked stuffed clams for Christmas Eve, and not one of them were left, they really go fast, in fact I could have made more but then no one would have eaten anything else! New Years Eve is almost here, so grab a bottle of wine and start your party off with a tray of delicious baked stuffed clams.
So much flavor packed into one bite, the stuffed clams are tender and sweet, the breading crispy, cheesy, zesty, garlicky, I could go on and on, but let me show you how easy it is to make them.
First of all whenever you buy clams and they say they’re cleaned just ignore that, you’re going to find sand in there and they will be gritty if not soaked and drained a few times.
I had five pounds of fresh clams that I picked up at Costco. I let them soak in cold water for around twenty minutes in a strainer with a bowl underneath so I can see any sand that comes out when I drain them. It usually takes three times of soaking and draining.
Then give each one a gentle scrub and discard the broken shells with exposed clam, I had three, trust me you’ll always have some to discard, so count for a few bad ones when buying them.
Next you’ll want to poach or steam your impeccably cleaned clams in a liquid of water, white wine, some garlic cloves and a bay leaf, letting them simmer in a covered lid on the pot scooping them out as they open, one by one. If doing a large amount don’t overcrowd them do half at a time or get another pot going.
Place the steamed opened clams into a bowl so they can cool down. The best thing about this method is that you don’t have to do any shucking to the raw clams, this makes the whole process so easy! Once they cool down just wiggle off the top of the shell so you have an open half shell, how easy is that!
Some clams have that little rubbery black thing attached that you see above, it’s part of the neck, just snip it off with a pair of scissors, it takes a second.
For five pounds of clams I ended up with forty five clams on the half shell. A few were broken and a few never opened up when they were steamed, those have to be discarded as well if that happens.
Place you half shells on a foil lined sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. At this point if you were making them for a crowd you could prep this all the day up to this point and then refrigerate and proceed with the stuffing the next day.
You can stuff the clams before your guests arrive so you’re ready to place them into the oven when everyone is ready to enjoy, you want to eat them hot.
The stuffing recipe will be below, I recommend making your own breadcrumbs if possible, but if not buy some good quality ones that are plain because you’ll be flavoring them up yourself.
Each clam gets about a heaping teaspoon of stuffing.
Then a quick drizzle of olive oil over top of each stuffed clam and into the oven they go to bake!
A light crispy bite with a ton of flavor that enhances the tender clam below!
Serve it with a little hot sauce and lemon slices on the side, I promise, you’re going to love these!
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- 5 lbs. fresh, little neck clams could yield 4 dozen depending on size and discards, cleaned, scrubbed and sand removed as outlined in blogpost
- POACHING LIQUID
- water, 1 cup white wine, a few whole garlic cloves, a bay leaf and a small bunch of parsley, just enough to cover the clams.
- FILLING
- 2 cups homemade or good quality bread crumbs
- 4 tablespoons each of unsalted butter and olive oil
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves grated on a microplane
- a handful of chopped parsley
- ½ cup of grated pecorino romano cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- lemon for garnish
- hot sauce optional
- Clean clams according to step by step on blog post
- Steam clams as stated in step by step on post.
- Prepare the half shells as pictured in post for a visual.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter and olive oil together.
- Stir in grated garlic and simmer until it's infused but not golden or dark.
- In a bowl add the breadcrumbs, zest, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper, mix together then pour in the melted oil/butter with garlic mixture and stir together until it looks like wet sand, if too dry add more melted butter and olive oil.
- Fill each half shell with a heaping teaspoon of the stuffing mixture and place them onto a foil lined sheet pan.
- Drizzle the tops with olive oil and place into a pre-heated 450 degree oven for around 8 minutes.
- They should be medium golden brown when finished, also nice and crispy.
- Serve immediately with lemon slices and hot sauce on the side.
- 2 c. Fine soft breadcrumbs
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 2 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 x Clove garlic, very finely Minced
- 3 doz littleneck clams, on The half shell
- 9 slc Raw bacon
- 1 x Lemon, cut into wedges
Baked Clams Casino Recipe
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss together bread crumbs, paprika, extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Place clams in a flat baking dish. Mount some of the bread crumb mix on each clam. Cut bacon slices into quarters and place a piece on each clam. Bake 25 min, or possibly till bacon is crisp. If you like, the clams may be served on a bed of heated rock salt. Serve with lemon wedges.
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Nutrition Facts
| Amount Per Serving | %DV |
|---|---|
| Serving Size 135g | |
| Recipe makes 4 servings | |
| Calories578 | |
| Calories from Fat351 | 61% |
| Total Fat39.16g | 49% |
| Saturated Fat11.39g | 46% |
| Trans Fat0.0g | |
| Cholesterol44mg | 15% |
| Sodium940mg | 39% |
| Potassium279mg | 8% |
| Total Carbs40.82g | 11% |
| Dietary Fiber3.1g | 10% |
| Sugars3.66g | 2% |
| Protein15.06g | 24% |