15 larger clams or 24 smaller clams
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
1 bunch of thyme (20 sprigs or so)
1/2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1/2 onion peeled diced
1/2 green pepper diced
1/2 red pepper diced
2 Tbsp Parmesan or Pecorino Romano grated cheese
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter, softened
Lemons
- Cook bacon until crisp, remove bacon and set aside.
- Discard all but 1 Tbsp bacon fat.
- Sauté onion until caramelized.
- Add peppers, garlic, thyme leaves and salt and sauté for 5 min.
- Remove stuffing mixture from heat and mix in butter, panko, cheese and bacon.
- Rinse clams well.
- Bring wine and water to a boil.
- Add clams and the other half of the thyme. Cook until clams open about 10 mins. Discard any unopened clams.
- Remove clams as they open and place on baking sheet. Discard top of shell. Use kitchen sheers and cut cooked clam away from the shell. Top each clam with stuffing and bake at 450 for 3-5 minutes. Serve with a lemon wedge to squeeze over the clams.
Notes:
- Fresh Thyme comes on a tiny little sprig. You can cook the whole sprig with clams and then discard. For the topping mixture you can easily remove Thyme leaves by pulling down right on the sprig with your thumb & forefinger.
- Extra topping? Possible, depending on the size of your clams. If you have extra you could turn it into little patties and lightly fry. Serve it as a little “stuffing” side. Or mix it in with my Hush Puppies recipe for a fun twist. BBQ Hush Puppies
Fun little story…
Do you think Clams Casino is just for special occasions? They have been around since the early 1900’s and did start as a winner of a dish at higher end establishments and rumors say in Casinos. Clams Casino used to seem like such a luxury type of dish to me, but not any longer. One they are not that pricey and two they are pretty easy to make.
The first time I had them was at Hedges Restaurant. My best friend Sandy and I would meet coworkers there. Fine dining on the water is not your typical after work type of place but it was close and had a good bar. I haven’t been there in years but I will always remember the fun we all had and the treat of their delicious Clams Casino.
Fast forward a few decades and I wanted my own recipe. As I was in the final stages of perfecting it a friend Mark told me about his recipe and we talked about a “clam cook off”.
Cooking competitions are not always my thing but cooking with friends in the kitchen, I can never say no to that.
My Clams Casino recipe brought back so many great memories of Hedges with friends. In my recipe I start off cooking the clams with wine and then the yummy clams are finished with a generous topping of crispy bacon, peppers and a few other favorite ingredients.
Marks brought back fond memories of his family. His toppings are finely diced and topped with bacon and pimento which goes great with the clams.
Sharing memories and laughs, everyone was a winner that night enjoying tasty Clams Casinos!
