My Mom (affectionalely known to my kids as Granny) made the most amazing Clams Casino for me and my sisters growing up. At some point in my teens Mom taught me how to make them. It’s like a magic trick. The illusion is so amazing until you learn how it works. Then you realize how easy it really is to pull it off. The same goes with these Clams Casino. They are a bit of work, but when they are done, they are so delicious leaving you wanting more.
My wife and I established our own tradition of making Clams Casino every Christmas morning. In later years we’d have Mom over for Christmas and my wife, daughters, Mom and nephew Jared would polish off a good 6 or 7 dozen of these. I was very grateful for Jared’s help in shucking the clams which can be a lot of work.
I hope you all enjoy this simple recipe. If you are not sure how to shuck clams, you may be able to get your local fish market to do it or follow my instructions in another blog post (coming soon). If you want to try to shuck the clams yourself, you will need a clam knife.
Ingredients:
- 1 Large onion or 2 medium onions finely diced
- 1 large green pepper finely dice
- 1 – 8 ounce jar of roasted red peppers (pimentos)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 3-4 dozen little neck clams (larger clams are too tough)
- 1 lb. of bacon thin sliced cut into 1 to 1-1/2” strips (~ 1 strip cut into 6 pieces)
- 1 whole lemon (or small bottle of lemon juice)
Recipe:
- Dice onion and green pepper and sauté with butter until tender and translucent.
- Dice pimento and add to onion and green pepper.
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Shuck clams and place on large cookie sheet or baking tray.
- Spoon onion, pepper, pimento mixture evenly across the clams.
- Cut bacon into strips 1-11/2” wide and place over the top of the onion/pepper filling on each clam.
- Bake at 450F for 10-15 minutes, but WATCH them to make sure they don’t burn. Bacon should be crisp on edges, but not completely crispy.
- Squeeze fresh lemon (or lemon juice) on top and serve hot!