Grilled Ham Clams (clams oreganata)

We made these baked clams for the first time on a recent trip to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and they were so good, they warranted a revisit as soon as we got home. 

Our friend Chris took us out for a few hours of surf fishing and on the way back to the ramp, asked us if we wanted to stop at a mud flat and dig a few clams for dinner. We said yes. A quick stop ended up being a reroute to a shallow bay, where the outgoing tide had exposed the flats. We didn’t have any rakes with us, so we poked around with our hands and feet, feeling for clams. In short order, we were covered in mud and had a bucket full of beautiful clams in the boat.

Chris mentioned that clams oreganata was his favorite clam recipe, so we decided to make something similar with what we had on hand. Luckily, our friend Cameron, who was fishing with us, had some ingredients to supplement our meager traveling pantry (basically just tortillas, pico de gallo and hot sauce). We mixed up some oregano, green onions, parmesan, and bread crumbs and then tossed in a bunch of ham for good measure.

What we ended up with was baked clams with fresh flavors from the oregano and green onion, yet rich with ham and parmesan. We ate a pile of them alongside some grilled redfish fillets and collars.

This recipe is a modified version of the classic clams oreganata, with the biggest difference being the inclusion of the Virginia ham. While this makes the overall dish a little saltier, the clams we dug from the mud flats were so sweet that the ham complimented them extremely well.

Baking clams is a pretty straight forward process- open the clams, cut the adductor muscles, top with your fixings and bake/broil until golden brown. We did the first batch on a grill, so we replicated those at home on our pellet grill. The addition of smoke adds another layer of addictive flavor, but these can be made in your oven if you don't have the option of using a grill.

Ham Clams (clams oreganata)

This recipe riffs on the classic clams oreganata, but with the twist of country-style Virginia ham. If you prefer, you can shuck the raw clams before topping them and grilling, but we didn’t have a clam knife on hand and find it easier to steam them a bit just to open them, and then finish with the topping.

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2-3 dozen clams

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp oregano, minced

1 cup virginia ham, small dice

½ cup parmesan, grated

½ cup green onion, sliced thin

1 cup panko

~1 pound butter

Method

Preheat grill or oven to 400F+.

In a saucepan over low/medium heat, render the ham for 4-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Add in oregano, parmesan, green onion and panko. Mix well.

Place clams in a preheated oven or grill (close lid) for 3-4 minutes. When the clams have opened slightly, remove from the oven or grill. Using a clam knife or thin butter knife, pry open the clams, cut the adductor muscles and remove one side of the shell. Cut the adductor muscle on both sides of the shell to make eating them easier.

Top clams with ham mix and a slice of butter. Return to the oven or grill for 5-6 minutes until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.