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, you can also add somee clam juice and a touch of white wine.
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
- bottled clam juice and a little wine for liquid at the bottom of the pan, (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, you cqn add. some clam juice, white wine and a little butter to the bottom of the pan as well, it's optional.
- They should be medium golden brown when finished, also nice and crispy.
- Serve immediately with lemon slices and hot sauce on the side.
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
