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2. If you like a thicker sauce, stir a half cup of sauce velouté (page 21) into the broth after it has been strained.

STEAMED CLAMS ON TOAST

2 dozen steamed clams (page 358)

4 slices bread

1/2 cup butter

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

Lemon wedges

Remove the steamed clams from their shells. Check the broth for salt. Toast the bread and trim the crusts. Melt the butter with the garlic and parsley, and proceed as in the recipe for steamed clams à la marinière. Arrange the clams on the hot toast, pour some of the sauce over them, and serve at once with additional sauce and lemon wedges.

STUFFED CLAMS

24 steamed clams (page 358)

1 tablespoon each chopped onion, parsley, tarragon

1/2 cup buttered crumbs

1/4 cup thick béchamel (page 23)

1 tablespoon sherry

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Remove the steamed clams from their shells. Chop very fine and combine with the seasonings, crumbs, and just enough béchamel sauce to bind them. Add the sherry, salt, pepper, and a few grains of cayenne. Fill the clam shells with this mixture, dot with butter and crumbs, and brown very quickly under the broiler.

NOTE: For certain clam, oyster, and other seafood dishes in the shell, it is a good idea to have some inexpensive pie plates or cake pans which you can fill with rock salt. Heat the pan filled with salt, and place the clams in their shells on the hot salt. Then return the pans to the oven or under the broiler. Serve the food right in the salt-filled pans. The salt retains the heat and keeps the seafood hot.

VARIATIONS

1. Steam clams as for clams marinière. Reduce the liquid to 1/3 cup. Add 1/3 cup heavy sauce velouté (page 21). Season with cayenne and chopped parsley. Add chopped clams and stuff the mixture into the shells. Top with buttered crumbs and small cubes of bacon. Bake at 400° until the bacon is crisp.

2. Use 24 clams on the half shell. Sprinkle with chopped chives, parsley, and garlic. Top with bacon. Bake in a 425° oven until the bacon is crisp.

3. Top 24 clams on the half shell with a lump of anchovy butter, made by creaming together 1/2 cup butter with 2 or 3 teaspoons finely chopped anchovies and 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion. Sprinkle with buttered crumbs and broil for 3 or 4 minutes.

4. Use 24 clams on the half shell. Combine 1 cup bread crumbs with the clam liquor, 1/3 cup white wine, 1 tablespoon each chopped onion, parsley, and green pepper. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover the clams with this mixture, pour melted butter over it, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400° until nicely browned.

CLAM HASH

During the summer months when we lived at the shore near the mouth of the Columbia River, we used to feast almost daily on clams, and we ate them in many different ways. Clam hash was one of the favorites, and although it was never made the same way twice, it always tasted ambrosial. This is an approximation of it:

6 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon finely minced onion

11/2 cups finely diced cooked potatoes

11/2 to 2 cups minced clams

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Nutmeg

4 egg yolks

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

6 tablespoons heavy cream

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet and cook the onion until it is just transparent. Add the finely diced potatoes and the clams and press them down with a spatula. Salt and pepper lightly and add a few flecks of nutmeg. Let the hash cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat and stir with a fork or spatula, mixing in some of the crust which forms on the bottom. Press down again. Beat the egg yolks well; combine with the grated cheese and cream. Pour this over the hash very gently, and cover tightly for a few minutes until the egg is set.

CLAM FRITTERS

2 eggs, separated

1 cup minced clams (fresh or canned

1 cup cracker crumbs or toasted bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Few grains cayenne pepper

Milk or clam juice

Butter or oil

Beat the egg