Clams casino is a beloved east coast dish (USA). The classic dish is a baked clam on the half shell topped with bacon and garlicky bread crumbs. What is not to love about this dish? I thought this dish would make a great sandwich with a few modifications.
Ingredients
- Great Crusty bread
- Clams
- Bacon
- Garlic
- Tomato
- Lemon
- Mayonaise
- Capers
- Cornichons
- Fresh Tarragon
- Fresh Basil
Method
- Steam the clams until just open but still uncooked
- Cook the bacon until crispy and save some bacon fat
Fry thin slices of garlic in 300F oil until crispy
Make the tartar sauce with mayonnaise, capers, cornichons, lemon zest, tarragon, basil, salt and pepper
Fresh herbs are best and here you can see the tarragon and basil plants that I used in my tartar sauce
- Here is the completed tartar sauce. The richness of the mayonnaise is balanced by pungent capers, cornichons and herbs.
- Lay the clams out on a piece of parchment paper (I actually used an old butter paper wrapper)
- Coat the clams with the tartar sauce and put under a broiler
- Fry the bread in the reserved bacon fat until brown and crispy
- Add some tartar sauce to the bread
- Add some sliced tomato to the bread
- Top the tomatoes off with the broiled clams
- Add the crispy bacon and fried garlic chips on top of the broiled clams
- finish off the sandwich with diced fresh lemon segments. This final step is so important to balancing out the rich flavors in the sandwich.
I hope you all enjoyed my interpretation of a clams casino sandwich. If you have any questions about this sandwich please ask me in the comments section below.