CookEat Recipe
Soft-Shell Clams Vaudeville
Whole soft-shell clam bodies baked in a shallot, milk and cream sauce with sherry and a light bread-crumb topping.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Obtain thirty-six good-sized fresh raw shucked whole-belly soft-shell clam bodies (Mya arenaria), with the edible belly, muscle and neck retained. Inspect them carefully and gently rinse away any remaining sand with cold water without cutting or breaking the bodies. Keep them refrigerated at 4°C or below until cooking. Preheat a conventional oven to 350°F and have an oven-safe baking dish ready to hold all the clams and sauce without overflowing.
Step 2
Peel and finely chop the six shallots. Heat one and a half tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add all the shallots and cook gently for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 3
Mix in the two tablespoons of flour. Gradually stir in the gill of hot milk, the gill of liquid cream and the two tablespoons of dry sherry. Add the half teaspoon of salt, the saltspoon of cayenne pepper and the half saltspoon of freshly grated nutmeg. Stir continuously until the sauce comes to a boil.
Step 4
Bring the quart of water to a boil in a separate saucepan. Plunge all the cleaned clam bodies into the boiling water for about one minute. Drain thoroughly and discard the blanching water.
Step 5
Add all the drained clams to the hot sauce. Mix gently without breaking the bodies and cook for about one minute.
Step 6
Pour all the clams and sauce into the baking dish. Scatter the tablespoon of plain bread crumbs over the entire surface and arrange a few small bits of butter over the top. Bake uncovered for about five minutes, continuing as needed until the thickest clam bodies and the sauce reach at least 74°C for fifteen seconds, checking several places with a probe thermometer.
Step 7
Remove the dish from the oven and serve the clams and sauce hot.
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