There is something about holding onto the last few weeks of summer by eating shore foods, where my favorite are steamer clams, which are in season just a bit longer. I first tried steamers in Martha’s Vineyard over 20 years ago, where my friends and I went to the fish market and brought back pounds of these clams that were just caught that morning to cook for dinner at home. It was great memories because not only was the dinner delicious, but it was a reunion with my study abroad friends from Vienna.
The first time I ate steamers, I could barely eat them fast enough they were so delicious and sweet, and unique from regular hard shell clams. Steamers are a soft-shell variety, that bury themselves deeper than their cousins the littleneck or manila clams. They never close all the way, and have this foot that’s called a siphon that sticks out.
Because the clams dig themselves deep into the sand, steamers tend to have a lot of sediment in them. To get the best result, in a cold pot salted of water, soak the steamer clams for 2-3 hours to get all the sand out. Traditional steamers are steamed in water, but of course, I like to add a lot of flavor with parsley, roasted garlic, olive oil, lemon and wine for the broth. If you soak the steamers well enough before cooking to take out the sand, that broth is like gold and delicious to add in corn, chives and olive oil to drink it like a soup.
