21 clam recipes

Mussels and shrimp with penne in a fresh tomato sauce with garlic, basil, mint, and a splash of brandy. A rustic Italian seafood pasta dinner.

A creamy salmon chowder with sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, corn, and leeks simmered in clam juice, cream, and milk. Rich, hearty, and warming from the first spoonful.

Grilled paella with chicken thighs, lobster, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, and chorizo over curry-turmeric rice with ancho powder. A show-stopping one-platter feast.

Florida Keys conch chowder with smoky bacon, jalapeño heat, and a tomato-clam juice base. Manhattan-style red seafood chowder that tastes like the conch shacks of Islamorada.

This is an authentic family recipe that my mother taught me in 1950 in New Orleans. It makes a great dinner party main dish. Like chinese food, it is long on chopping and assembling, but goes together and cooks rather quickly.