Karen Barros, Bristol, Rhode Island

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/dad-s-famous-stuffies/

Dad's Famous Stuffies

Prep: 1-1/4 hours Bake: 20 min.

Makes 10 servings

The third of July is almost as important as July Fourth in my family. We make these stuffed clams on the third every year, and it's an event in and of itself!”Karen Barros, Bristol, Rhode Island

Ingredients

• 20 fresh large quahog clams (about 10 pounds)
• 1 pound hot chourico or linguica (smoked Portuguese sausage) or fully cooked Spanish chorizo
• 1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 3 teaspoons seafood seasoning
• 1 package (14 ounces) herb stuffing cubes
• 1 cup water
• Optional: Lemon wedges and hot pepper sauce

Directions

1. Add 2 in. water to a stockpot. Add clams and chourico; bring to a boil. Cover and steam until clams open, 15-20 minutes.
2. Remove clams and sausage from pot, reserving 2 cups cooking liquid; cool slightly. Discard any unopened clams.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove clam meat from shells. Separate shells; reserve 30 half-shells for stuffing. Place clam meat in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Remove casings from sausage; cut sausage into 1-1/2-in. pieces. Place in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add sausage, onion and seafood seasoning to chopped clams. Stir in stuffing cubes. Add reserved cooking liquid and enough water to reach desired moistness, about 1 cup.
5. Spoon clam mixture into reserved shells. Place in 15x10x1-in. baking pans. Bake until heated through, 15-20 minutes. Preheat broiler.
6. Broil clams 4-6 in. from heat until golden brown, 4-5 minutes. If desired, serve with lemon wedges and pepper sauce.

Can you freeze Dad's Famous Stuffies?

Cover and freeze unbaked stuffed clams in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan until firm. Transfer to freezer containers; return to freezer. To use, place 3 stuffed clams on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with a paper towel; microwave on high until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Serve as directed.

 Hot chourico can be found at <i>michaelsprovision.com</i> and <i>gasparssausage.com</i>.

Nutrition Facts

3 stuffed clams: 296 calories, 11g fat (3g saturated fat), 71mg cholesterol, 1188mg sodium, 34g carbohydrate (3g sugars, 2g fiber), 18g protein.

Basically I just steam the clams. Keep some of the juice aside.

When they cool remove from shell and also remove the two small round hard muscles or whatever they are on either side ( they pop out)

Chop fine.

Chop small: onion celery, pepper and chorizo or linguica, and saute. Add the clams and some of the juice, maybe 1/2 cup or more

Then add a cup or so of breadcrumbs- sometimes I just chop the bread into small cubes. Until it's a consistency you can spoon easily.

At this point I sometimes add a little lemon or hot sauce or grated parm and def some chopped parsley. S and P¦.

Pack loosely into the shells - not too loose and not too tight and bake uncovered for 30 mins or so 350. Or until done

You can't go wrong!

You know the drill. People get crazy about what to use. I had a half ear of corn left over and stripped that and threw in the kernels.  

NOT PART of the trad RI recipe but nice. Teddi