Why This Recipe Works
- Utilizing the clam cooking liquid within the stuffing moistens the filling and intensifies the clam taste.
- Utilizing your fingers to totally mix and mash the bread and clam combination avoids an over-processed texture.
Coastal New England holds a particular place in my coronary heart. A lot of its rustic shoreline is pristine, with inexperienced pastures and farmland bounded by outdated stone partitions straight out of a Jane Austin novel. It’s the place I fell in love with my husband a few years in the past (pre-kids) on our many weekend escapes from Boston to the quaint coastal farming city of Westport in Massachusetts’ South Coast. And (barely) much less important, it’s the place I additionally fell in love with baked stuffed clams.
There’s rather a lot to like about New England–type stuffed clams. They’ve the consolation and heartiness of a bread-based stuffing, permeated with a briny clam essence, savory aromatics, and the ultimate pep of lemon, all blended collectively, baked, and charmingly offered in a big clam shell. You’ll discover variations of stuffed clams in seafood shacks, eating places, and residential kitchens alongside the New England shoreline, near the cities the place the clams are dug up.
Rhode-Island “Stuffies”
Since my love-at-first-bite expertise, I’ve sought out and have loved many stuffed clams in seafood shacks from northern Maine all the best way down by southern coastal cities in Rhode Island (only a stone’s throw from my beloved Westport). Whereas most include the widespread components described above, the flavour profile, ratio of components, and texture of the stuffing can range with every model.
The model I search out probably the most, and that impressed this recipe, is the Rhode Island–type of stuffed clams, lovingly identified in Li’l Rhody as “stuffies.” What makes this model distinctive to Rhode Island is the Portuguese affect with the addition of chouriço, which is smoked and cured and loaded with garlic and paprika. Together with the added sausage, garlic, paprika, and bell pepper are generally present in chouriço stuffies. The briny clams mixed with the smoky and wealthy sausage is, in my view, an ideal pairing.
It’s little shock that Rhode Island–type stuffies would have a powerful Portuguese affect. Rhode Island has the densest Portuguese inhabitants within the nation. When waves of Portuguese immigrants got here to Rhode Island within the late nineteenth century, they sought jobs working in factories, fishing, and later in clamming.
Whereas the massive exhausting shell clams often called quahogs (pronounced coe-hog) may be discovered up and down the east coast, they’re particularly ample in Rhode Island, with Narragansett Bay the epicenter of the clamming trade in Rhode Island, and a significant a part of the state’s native financial system. With Portuguese immigrants on the helm of the clam-digging boats, it is logical that many recipes utilizing the clams would have a powerful Portuguese affect.
It’s necessary to notice that even inside the borders of this tiny state, evidently there are as many variations of stuffies as there are clam shacks and eating places the place they’re served. In informal conversations with associates from Rhode Island I’ve been instructed that some “outdated timers” imagine a stuffie ought to style of nothing greater than clams with breadcrumbs. Whereas on the opposite finish of the spectrum I’ve skilled cheffy restaurant variations that depend on a medley of added greens and spices.
In my recipe right here for chouriço stuffies, I’ve aimed for a stuffie that continues to be clam-forward, however its taste is effectively supported by a medley of Portuguese-inspired flavors. The clams are steamed till simply opened, then chopped and blended with oven-dried bread, fragrant greens, and chouriço that’s cooked in a copious quantity of butter, recent herbs, and certain along with clam broth and a remaining hit of lemon juice.
Deciding on and Getting ready Your Clams
Clearly, a very powerful ingredient on this recipe are the clams themselves. Exhausting-shell clams are divided and named by dimension. From smallest to largest: Rely neck (popularly often called the littleneck clam) is the smallest, adopted by high neck, cherrystone, and, lastly, the large boys known as quahogs. The identify quahog is most typical in New England; elsewhere they’re usually simply known as “chowder clams.” They’re roughly the scale of my palm (averaging round three to 5 inches in diameter), and weigh in at ten to sixteen ounces every.
When choosing quahogs for this recipe, select ones which can be roughly the identical dimension. For the reason that stuffing is served within the shells, having related sized shells makes for a great presentation and ensures a constant serving dimension for every individual. Plus, the clams will steam open in roughly the identical period of time, making certain the clams can be evenly cooked.
One other necessary rule when buying clams (any seafood, actually) is to go by odor. Clams are bought whereas nonetheless alive, and may odor just like the ocean. If it smells fishy or funky, no good. Additionally search for clams with their shells tightly closed. Gently faucet the shells of any open clams and wait just a few seconds; discard any that stay unresponsive and gapping open, as a result of they’re useless (or close to sufficient), and you don’t need that. Lastly, keep away from cracked shells.
As soon as chosen, clams ought to be saved in an open mesh bag or with damp paper towels or newspapers over high, set in a bowl, on high of one other bowl that’s stuffed with ice. The concept right here is that you just wish to hold the clams alive so long as attainable by letting them breathe and retaining them as chilly as attainable, with out the chance of them submerging for too lengthy in recent water and prematurely dying. They need to maintain this fashion for about three days. Technically they could last more, however I wouldn’t push it.
I can’t stress this subsequent level sufficient: Though time consuming, purging clams is completely vital. Purging is an easy course of that removes any inside sand from the clams, making certain you gained’t encounter any gritty bites. When you suppose a tough scrub of the clams’ exterior shells is sufficient to correctly clear them earlier than cooking, then I assure you might be working a excessive danger of getting a mouthful of sand. You’ve bought to take the time to purge your clams.
To purge clams, I submerge them in salted water for 30 to 60 minutes. I as soon as had a chef I labored for years in the past in a restaurant on Washington state’s shoreline inform me that you need to attempt to match the water temperature with the atmosphere the clams have been dwelling in. So in case you are utilizing clams caught in heat summer time New England water, you need to recreate that temperature atmosphere when purging. I’ll be sincere, I by no means adopted these tips precisely, and am not even certain what the logic is (they’ve possible been refrigerated or on ice for some time already!). I’ve all the time caught with cool room temperature (60 to 70 levels), and I’ve had constant outcomes.
I exploit a ratio of two tablespoons of kosher salt for each quart of water (about three-percent salinity) for purging. If the underside of the container is evident of sand after that point, go forward and prepare dinner them. If there’s sand on the underside of the container, carry the clams out, drain and rinse the container, then fill it up once more with recent salted water and drop the clams again in. Do that as many occasions as vital till they cease spitting out sand. Solely then are they able to prepare dinner.
Cooking the Clams
There’s some debate over whether or not to prepare dinner clams a couple of times with stuffies. I’ve seen recipes argue that the solely approach to make stuffies is to first shuck the uncooked quahogs, seize and save their juice (to later moisten the filling), and finely chop the uncooked clams earlier than folding into the filling and baking. That is the “prepare dinner as soon as” method.
I perceive the priority and intuition to solely prepare dinner the clams by as soon as. It reduces the chance of overcooking the clam meat into a tricky, leathery chew toy of types. However shucking the large hard-shell clams all the time feels a bit dangerous, and requires a whole lot of higher arm energy, even for an skilled shucker like myself.
I discovered in testing that cooking the clam meat twice (as soon as to steam the clam open to entry the meat, then twice when baked within the stuffing) returned nice outcomes, with out the pointless danger of stabbing your hand whereas attempting to shuck open a dozen monster-sized clams. As soon as the cooked clam meat is finely chopped and folded right into a wealthy buttery sausage laced filling, there is no such thing as a discernible undesirable robust texture. The twice-cooked clam meat really supplied a welcome little bit of chunk in distinction to the tender bread-based stuffing.
Admittedly, this can be a truthful quantity of labor to get to the clam meat. If you wish to keep away from coping with the clams, I’ve discovered {that a} good seafood monger (not less than in my experiences in Massachusetts and Rhode Island) will promote you chopped uncooked quahog clam meat with already cleaned shells to make stuffies at residence. When you select to go this route, you possibly can skip steps 2 by 4 within the recipe, then add about 2 cups of the uncooked clam meat with the onion combination when cooking; bottled clam juice, in the meantime, can be utilized instead of the clam cooking broth.
Making the Stuffing
As soon as the clams and their shells are ready, the remainder of the stuffing comes collectively pretty simply. Onion and bell pepper are sautéed together with the chouriço in a considerable amount of butter till tender and the butter has taken on a smoky taste and rusty hue. A fast bloom of garlic, paprika, and recent thyme spherical out the aromatics for the stuffing.
As with many different bread-based dishes, stuffed clams got here into existence to stretch budgets and to supply carb-rich meals for hard-working fishermen, farmers, and different long-day laborers. Recipes mirror this by usually calling for a variety of pantry-friendly binder choices. Whereas breadcrumbs or your most popular cracker would make a wonderfully wonderful stuffie, I desire utilizing oven-dried bread right here. The dried bread cubes absorb the infused clam brine and bind effectively with the clams and aromatics for a stuffing that continues to be moist inside but crisps on the skin throughout baking.
I’ll admit it, the previous line prepare dinner in me actually wished to douse the clams in white wine whereas steaming them open. However white wine is slightly too misplaced for the standard stuffie. Each model of stuffed clams I’ve had in New England all the time use lemon for a touch of acidity. It cuts by the richness of all of the added butter properly.
All these stuffies want is a remaining wedge of lemon, a easy pink scorching sauce like Tabasco, and an ice chilly beer. And a pristine coastal New England view wouldn’t damage.
Rhode Island–Model Stuffed Quahog Clams (“Stuffies”)
These massive quahog clams are filled with a Portuguese-influenced combination of bread, briny clams, and smoky chouriço.
- 1 pound high-quality white sandwich bread or tender Italian or French bread (450g; about 1 loaf), minimize into 3/4-inch cube (about 2 1/2 quarts) (see notes)
- 12 quahog clams (about 8 kilos; 3.6 kg), purged and scrubbed (see notes)
- 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces ;113g)
- 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion (4 ounces; 113g), from 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced inexperienced bell pepper (4 ounces; 113g), from 1/2 medium inexperienced bell pepper
- 3 ounces Portuguese-style chouriço or Spanish-style chorizo, casing eliminated and finely diced
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon candy Spanish paprika, non-compulsory (see notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon minced recent thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) recent lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving
Regulate oven rack to center place. Warmth oven to 275°F (130°C). On a rimmed baking sheet, unfold bread in a single even layer and bake, rotating sheet and stirring bread cubes a number of occasions throughout baking, till bread is totally dried, 30 to 40 minutes. Take away from oven, let cool, then switch to a big bowl; put aside. Improve oven temperature to 400°F (200°C).
In a big Dutch oven, deliver 3 cups (710ml) water (ought to measure about 1-inch deep) to a boil. Add clams and prepare dinner, coated, stirring sometimes, till clams open, 8 to 12 minutes. Utilizing a slotted spoon, take away clams from water as they open and switch to a rimmed baking sheet to chill.
Measure 2 cups (475ml) of the clam cooking liquid and put aside. Reserve remaining clam broth for an additional use or discard (see notes). Wipe Dutch oven clear with a paper towel.
Working with one clam at a time, use a paring knife to fastidiously separate the clam meat from the shell. Switch clam to reducing board. Separate the now-empty high shell from the underside shell on the hinge. Discard the highest shell and rinse the underside shell beneath water to take away any shell fragments. Switch the cleaned backside shell to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining clams. Finely chop the clam meat into roughly 1/8- to 1/4-inch items; put aside.
Within the now-cleaned Dutch oven, soften butter over medium-high warmth simply till foaming subsides (don’t permit butter to brown), about 2 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, and chouriço, and prepare dinner, stirring often, till greens are softened and chouriço begins to crisp and render its fats, 7 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, paprika (if utilizing), and thyme and prepare dinner till aromatic, about 30 seconds.
Off warmth, stir in 1 1/2 cups (355ml) of reserved clam broth, minced clams, lemon juice, and parsley. Let cool barely, about 10 minutes.
Pour clam combination into the bowl with bread croutons and stir till effectively mixed. Squeeze bread between your fingers or mash with a spoon till a homogenous combination is shaped, no dry spots stay, and about half of bread items are damaged right down to a rough paste-like consistency. If combination is just too dry, add remaining 1/2 cup (120ml) broth, 1 tablespoon at a time, as wanted. Combination ought to be moist however not moist. It’s best to have about 4 cups of filling.
Divide stuffing amongst reserved cleaned clam shells (about 1/3 cup every). Bake till stuffing is heated by and golden brown, 15 to twenty minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Particular Gear
Massive Dutch oven
Notes
Stale bread could also be substituted for recent. Use 1 1/2 quarts stale bread and skip step 1.
Quahog clams are massive hard-shell clams. They’re generally offered as “chowder clams.”
To purge clams, submerge them in a big container of salted chilly water (about 3% salinity) and let stand for half-hour. Elevate out clams. If there is no such thing as a sand within the backside of the container, they’re prepared to wash and use. If there may be sand, drain and rinse the container, fill with recent salted water, and return clams for 30 extra minutes. Proceed this course of till the water is evident and freed from sand.
If you wish to keep away from steaming the clams and cleansing the clam shells on this recipe, a superb fish monger will promote you chopped uncooked quahog clam meat, and already cleaned shells to make stuffies at residence, simply name prematurely and ask. When you select to go this route, skip steps 2 by 4 within the recipe. Add 2 cups of uncooked clam meat with the onion combination to saute and prepare dinner by. Substitute bottled clam juice in place for the clam cooking broth.
Unused clam broth may be cooled down and refrigerated for as much as 3 days or frozen for as much as 2 months.
The quantity of seasoning and paprika in chouriço can range vastly. In case you are utilizing a deep wealthy pink chouriço that has a powerful paprika aroma, you may not wish to use the extra paprika within the recipe.
Make-Forward and Storage
The clam shells stuffed with stuffing may be coated and refrigerated, previous to baking, for as much as 2 days or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen for as much as 1 month. Thaw within the fridge in a single day earlier than baking.