Steamed Clams...

I have a good recipe!

You need a skillet with a lid, a amber beer, butter, garlic, diced tomato, crumbled bacon, shallots, fresh spinach and a good bread for dipping all the juice!

Add the tomato & bacon at the end....all other ingredients in the pan and steam away!

My husband does all the seafood cooking in our house. (He's a chef) We have clams all the time but I've never really paid attention to how he exactly cooks them.

I do know that we dump them into ice water to "purge" them before he cooks them. Then he sorts through them one by one making sure they are all completely closed. If you see one that is slightly open, tap on the shell. If it sucks/clamps closed, then the clam is fine. If it stays open or is cracked, then toss it. Those clams are dead and are no good to eat.

After that he dumps them into some boiling, salted water. I believe he only boils a couple inches. Cover Pot. Once the clams open up, they are done and ready to eat...not sure exactly how long this takes. I never paid attention to this part.

We eat them one by one, dipped in melted butter. My kids love it!!! We've been eating clams for years. We LOVE seafood in our house.

Hope this helps!
Good Luck and ENJOY!

Ya know what is really good to do with clams?
Put it in a pot.
Throw in a can of chicken broth.
Add some white wine to taste. I usually use like 1 cup.
Add some butter to taste.
Throw in a bunch of chopped up garlic. I like lots.
Add salt to taste, if you want.
Toss it all.
Cook until the clams open.
Serve with nice warm French bread.... and use it to dunk into the broth as you eat.
YUM.
Even my kids, including my picky eating son, likes this.
And serve with a great side salad.

And SO easy to make.

AND, with the "broth" that is left in the pot.... you just pour that over the clams, serve it in a BOWL... and you can even sip/drink the broth and it is a good tasting broth!

Never done them either but there was an Alton Brown on them once. Perhaps see if they have it on the food network website. :)

I'm a vegetarian, and I find cooking clams easy! When they open, they are done ;-)

The hard part is making sure they are "good" clams, i.e. not dead.

Not a huge steamers fan, myself, but we eat a lot of seafood in my house. Love it! Clams don't need a lot of water to steam in, whether they're little necks, steamers or whatever. An inch or two of water in the bottom of the pot, the clams and a good pot with a well fitting lid is all you need. Melted butter to dip them in is terrific. Add a bit of lemon juice and you're in heaven

First, for any shellfish you should ABSOLUTELY follow Joanna K's advice about picking through them first to make sure they're fresh. Pick up each clam. We usually do about 4# of mussels at a time (a huge favorite in our house) and a quick check of each one doesn't take long.

For mussels, we do the following in a 6-qt dutch oven:
- about an inch of white wine in the pot
- a spoonful of dijon mustard
- a spoonful of minced garlic (we just use the jarred kind)
- a good splash of lemon juice

Add the mussels, cover and steam on medium-high heat until they're opened -- about 5 - 10 minutes, maybe (it doesn't seem to take long).

Serve 'em in bowls with a bit of melted butter to dip, if you'd like (I usually eat mine straight up). Some bread is a good accompaniment. We usually do these as an appetizer, all sitting around a big pot in the middle of the kitchen table. So good!

Don't be afraid of seafood. Go for it and enjoy!

Oh, this question is making me hungry... In My 30s recipe sounds great.

Just watched Rick Bayless's show where he did a steamed mussels dish with white wine, garlic, chili powder and chorizo for the broth... looked divine. With clams, I'd go lighter, but wow.. heavenly!

I've also had clams steamed with white wine, tomatoes, carrots and shallot and parsley-- had the dish seven years ago and still fondly remember it!