In our never-ending quest for the perfect as-close-as-we can-get-to-Mom's baked clams, we have hit on a winner.

My inspiration came from this website that someone had posted: http://www.leitesculinaria.com/index.html

Although I didn't measure anything but the bread and clams, I'll try to estimate the ingredients for you. This made the lightest, tastiest, freshest tasting baked clams with just the right amount of crunch.

This was my first time shucking and cleaning clams, and now that I had the experience, I'll be doing it more often. I tried two ways to get those stubborn little clams to open.

One was by popping them into the microwave for 10 seconds (1 clam) and the other was by freezing them for aout 20 minutes. I prefer the freezer method as the microwave produced slightly warmed clams and I was limited with how many I could do at one time.

I also purchased some frozen chopped clams to add to the fresh clams, in the event I needed more meat. I did, so it worked out well.

The Recipe:

3 dozen top or little-neck clams, scrub, shuck, clean up meat(remove all poop), chopped.

-Juices should be triple strained using thin cotton like a tee-shirt rag or handkercheif. RESERVE JUICE.

-Clam shells should be boiled and excess meat removed.

1 Cup additional chopped clams

3 Slices fresh white breadcrumbs, toasted in oven until golden

3 Garlic cloves, chopped fine.

2 T. fresh parsley - chopped fine

1/4 C. Grated Pecornino Romano or Parm Reg cheese

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

Reserved clam juice

Lemon wedges.

Place clam shells on baking sheet and fill with chopped clams.

Mix breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley,grated chesse, and salt/pepper.

Drizzle mixture with olive oil just to slightly moisten.

Drizzle each clam with a teaspoon or so of clam juice.

Top each clam with a tablespoon or so of mixture. Do NOT pack into shell, just let it sit on top of the clams.

Place clams under broiler (watch them carefully) for 5 minutes or until the tops are deep golden brown.

Spritz with lemon and serve immediatelly.

I would allow 8 per person (min)as an appetizer since these are so light and delicious.