Peep's Baked Stuffed Clams


Ingredients
12 little neck clams, scrub shells to remove dirt, sand and grit

Place clams in pan and add water to cover bottom of pan. Cover pan and steam on medium high heat. Remove clams from the pot as they open and let cool enough to handle. Discard any clams that have not opened (if they haven't opened it means they were dead to begin with and should not be eaten).

Remove the clam meat from the shells and mince finely. Break apart the clam shells from their hinges. Rinse and scrap rough edges off clam hinges and set aside.

OR ******SAVE CLAM SHELLS - Wash and reuse. You can use 2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams, drained
and reuse old clam shells ***********

3 Tbsp minced onion
3 strips Bacon or to taste - chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
Olive oil

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Ground hot pepper flakes to taste
Old Bay - Lemon & herb flavored to taste
Thyme and rosemary - dry chopped fine (I use spice grinder) to taste
Fresh basil - minced fine - to taste
Paprika to taste (and some to dust tops before putting in oven)
Parmesan and Romano cheese - to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Plain bread crumbs

Lemon wedges
Hot sauce


Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F.
In a pan, cook bacon till crisp; remove and drain (crumble small). Add olive oil if needed to the bacon drippings and bits in pan and heat on medium high. Add the minced onion. Once the onions have softened (2-3 minutes) add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat and place in bowl. Add clams and all other ingredients except bread crumbs and stir well. Add an equal amount of plain bread crumbs as the amount of ingredients in bowl and just enough olive oil to hold mixture together. Stir until the stuffing mixture is completely moistened. (If too dry, add more olive oil or lemon juice; if too wet, add a bit more bread crumbs.)

Lay clam shells on a baking dish. Mound stuffing mixture onto each clam shell. Sprinkle with additional Old Bay and paprika. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top then place under broiler to finish browning.

Serve with lemon wedges and hot sauce.

Thanks Peeps. It really looks good!

You're welcome Barb. Enjoy!

Very nice, peeps

Thank you Chow!!

Wish I could make these up but hubby is allergic and Im too lazy to make them just for myself! LOL Oh well one day I'll get to try them! They look great!

Too lazy to make them for yourself?!
I'm thinking of making these for me tonight

Dee Make them up to the filled shells point and then freeze them. Take out and bake just the ones you want for yourself. When I was single I did that alot!! I would fill a dozen shells freeze BEFORE baking. Then I would pop 3 or 4 in the oven for a meal. Buy 1 dozen fresh clams ONCE and you will have 24 shells. Wash and reuse them. After the first time just buy the canned minced clams. The canned save alot of time and work and taste just as good as fresh. Or buy fresh minced clams at the seafood store or dept of supermarket.

When I buy fresh clams I make Clams Casino (steam clams open, loosen clam from shell, leave whole clam in shell and sprinkle with small amount of season bread crumbs on top of clam and brown under broiler. Then I reuse the shells for baked.

Just some suggestions.

Please let me know how you like them Fred. I am not always so good at writing up recipes and the directions. And take pics!!

I've got 2 dozen in the fridge as we speak
A dozen littleneck for something else and a dozen bigger clams for these.
How many of these does one dozen make, 24 with the other ingredients?