James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [122]
VARIATIONS
1. Beat 2 eggs until light. Add 1 cup mixed milk and clam juice, and 3/4 cup flour sifted with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Stir in 1 cup minced clams and season with salt and pepper. Drop by spoonfuls into hot butter or oil and sauté for 4 or 5 minutes, turning once.
2. Beat 2 eggs, stir in 2 cups minced clams, 2/3 cup bread crumbs that have been browned in butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. With your hands, form the mixture into cakes — round, cutlet-shaped, or oval. Roll these in flour and crumbs and sauté them in butter or oil over medium heat until nicely browned. Serve with lemon wedges.
Or you may deep-fry them for 4 or 5 minutes in fat heated to 365°. Drain on absorbent paper.
CLAM SOUFFLÉ
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup clam juice
1/2 cup cream
2/3 cup minced clams
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg
6 egg whites
Melt the butter in a saucepan; add the flour and brown lightly. Stir in the clam juice and the cream and continue stirring until the mixture thickens. Add the minced clams and remove from the stove. Cool slightly. Beat the egg yolks into this mixture, one by one; add the chopped parsley and the seasonings. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them in. Pour into a well-buttered soufflé dish. Bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes, according to the state of runniness you prefer in a soufflé.
To be really elegant, serve this soufflé with a sauce mousseline (page 26).
SCALLOPED CLAMS
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs
1 cup cracker crumbs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
2 cups minced clams
2 tablespoons finely minced onion
2 tablespoons finely minced parsley
1/3 cup cream
Melt the butter and mix it with the bread and cracker crumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of paprika. Set aside 1/3 cup of this mixture for the top of the casserole. With the rest mix the clams, onion, and parsley. Pour it into a well-buttered baking dish and top with the remaining crumb mixture. Dot with additional butter and pour the cream over all. Bake in a 375° oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
CLAM PIE
2 quarts clams in shells
2 cups white wine
1 carrot
1 onion
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups sauce velouté (page 21)
1 pound mushrooms
5 tablespoons butter
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons sherry or Madeira
1 recipe of rich pastry
Beaten egg yolk
Steam the clams in the white wine with the carrot, onion, bay leaf, and pepper (see page 358). Remove from the shells. Prepare a sauce velouté, using some of the clam broth (see page 21). Sauté the mushrooms in butter; season to taste with salt and pepper. Combine the mushrooms, clams, and the sauce and add the sherry or Madeira. Taste for seasoning. Cool thoroughly. Pour into a deep baking dish and top with pie crust rolled 1/4 inch thick. Decorate with leaves cut out of additional crust, brush with beaten egg yolk mixed with a little water, and bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and bake until nicely browned, about 20 minutes.
CLAM QUICHE
Pastry for 1 pie crust
4 strips of bacon
2 tablespoons minced onion
4 eggs
11/2 cups clam juice and cream, mixed
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg
1 cup minced clams, drained
Line a 9-inch pie tin with the pastry and chill in the refrigerator for several hours. Sauté the bacon until crisp and drain on absorbent paper. Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until just soft. Beat the eggs, combine with the liquid, and add seasonings to taste. Remove the pie shell from the refrigerator. Sprinkle crumbled bacon and the onion on the bottom; then add the clams. Pour the custard mixture over