Clams Casino Recipe, from Mike G's nephew "Dan the Clam"

This is our own Mike Grattan's favorite clams casino recipe, courtesy of his nephew, "Dan the Clam"! Visit Mike every week at the Aquidneck Growers Market and pick his brain for other great preparations of our seafood.

Ingredients:

• 18 littleneck clams (will make 36 clams casino)
• 1-sleeve Ritz Crackers (crushed into crumbs of various sizes)
• Juice from one squeezed lemon
• Bell peppers: ½ each of a yellow bell, an orange bell and a red bell diced (nearly minced)
• ½ red onion minced
• 1 small bunch of chopped, fresh parsley (about 3 tablespoons when cut)
• 4-6 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp brown mustard
• Crushed red pepper (2-3 dashes to taste)
• Splash of white wine
• 1 stick of butter
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• Bacon (the better the quality of the bacon, the better the clams casino, I use Pat’s Pastured nitrate free bacon)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Open clams, and reserve the liquor.
3. Split clams in half, leaving ½ a clam inside each shell. (Be sure to separate abductor mussels from shell for easy eating later.) Lay them out in a casserole dish or baking sheet.
4. Make garlic butter by melting the stick of butter in a small sauce pan and add the finely minced garlic. Once butter is melted, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a splash of white wine, brown mustard, and lemon juice. Let it sit about 10-15 minutes to cool and to let the flavors combine.
5. Prepare the cracker crumbs, bell peppers, red onion, parsley, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and combine in a bowl.
6. Pour garlic butter and reserved clam liquor into mixing bowl with above ingredients. The mixture should be moist enough to bind together, but not too wet. (If more liquid is needed, add more melted butter and wine; if too wet, add more Ritz cracker crumbs; it’s not an exact science.)
7. Spoon mixture on top of halved clams and top with a piece of bacon (about the size of a quarter, just big enough to cover the top of the mixture).
8. Place in oven. Clams are ready once the bacon starts to curl. Serve and enjoy!