New England style stuffed clams

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

Step 2

Rinse the clams of any grit then steam clams in around 1in/23cm boiling water until they open up, around 8-10min. Remove them from the water (save some of it), allow the clams to cool then take them off the shell - if a bit gets stuck don't worry about it, that's the 'foot' that's not as tender to eat. Dice up the clam meat relatively small. Split the shells open and keep 8 of the best for stuffing. NB if clams don't open on steaming, don't use them, this means they were already dead.

Step 3

While the clams are cooking, finely dice the onion and pepper and mince the garlic.

Step 4

Warm the butter in a skillet/frying pan and soften the onion in the butter for a minute or two. Then add the garlic and pepper and cook another minute before adding the breadcrumbs.

Step 5

Cook the crumbs a minute before adding everything else (parsley, lemon juice, parmesan, cayenne pepper (or paprika) and diced clams). Mix well. Add a tablespoon or two of the water from cooking the clams so that the mixture holds together fairly well.

Step 6

Divide the mixture between the 8 shells you held back and press it so it holds together. Put them in a baking dish and bake for approx 20 minutes until they gently brown on top.