Growing up in an Italian family meant that you had a lot of aunts and uncles, most of which were not even relatives. Growing up I had two special people in my life, my Uncle Joe and Aunt Laura. They owned a fish store in Long Island that I loved to visit. One of my finest memories is when Aunt Laura taught me to make baked stuffed clams. Now, mind you, she made 25 pounds at a time and never measured anything. It took a lot of trial and error to scale down this recipe and actually figure out how much of each ingredient to put in. Once my mother and I learned to make these, we have had baked stuffed clams every Christmas Eve celebration.
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| Baked Stuffed Clams |
Makes 8-12 clams
I 6.5oz can Chopped Clams (drain and reserve juice)
¼ C Plain Breadcrumbs
¼ C Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese
1 TBS fresh or 1 tsp dried Parsley
5 grinds of freshly grated Black Pepper
1 tsp chopped Garlic
1 TBS Olive Oil
4 tsp reserved Clam Juice
Paprika
1 Lemon (cut into wedges)
12 Clean Clam Shells *
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Drain the can of chopped clams and save the clam juice. Mix the clams through the olive oil in a bowl. Add 4 teaspoons of the reserved clam juice. If the mixture is dry, add more of the reserved clam juice until it holds together. Put 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture in clean clam shells. Sprinkle paprika over top of the filled clams. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side.
Note: Clams can be prepared ahead of time, covered in plastic wrap, and refrigerated overnight. Increase cooking time to 20 minutes if the clams are cold.
* Pronto Substitutes
Clam Shells – When I don’t have any clam shells I use small oven proof dishes that I purchased at a Chinese market that are supposed to be used as personal condiment dishes for things like soy sauce.
Mushrooms – This stuffing can be placed in mushroom caps and cooked as directed in this recipe.