Amazing Champagne Butter Clams Recipe

Hey I’m John Cannell and today we’re making champagne butter clams with Herby sourdough toasts from my new cookbook so let’s get started.

Roast the Garlic

First off preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Grab a beautiful head of garlic and we’re going to chop off the top quarter inch. Grab a piece of foil, drizzle the garlic with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, close it up, pop this into the oven. We’re going to bake it for about 40 minutes or until it’s tender and amazing.

Soak the Clams

While my garlic is roasting let’s get the clams out and soak them in water. These guys are so delicious but nobody wants sand in their shellfish and you can see that I stored these on ice because you don’t want to kill your clams; you want them to be open to the air but like in a really cold environment so they stay alive.

Add your clams into a large bowl. Now I’m going to fill my bowl up with cold water just so the clams are covered. Okay, my clams should open up a bit, they should spit out any of the sand they have inside. But to further irritate them—I’m sorry clams—I’m going to add in an optional tablespoon of semolina, just sprinkle that in, swish it around. The semolina is going to irritate the clams, they’ll spit out any of the sand they have and they’ll be that much more delicious. We’re going to set this aside for 20 minutes.

Make the Compound Herbed Butter

My garlic’s out of the oven and cooling down, my clams are soaking, so now we’re going to make the most amazing compound herbed butter. I want about a quarter cup of freshly chopped herbs—choose any ones you love. I’m using parsley, thyme, and chives today, but you could use chervil, tarragon if you want that; it’s really up to you. Give us a nice chop.

I’m stripping my thyme of all the woody stems and now I’m just going to give leaves a chop. Give your chives a nice fine chop as well. This compounded garlic herb butter we’re gonna make is gonna go onto our sourdough toast as well as in the clams and it is so good.

Grab a medium-small bowl. Now for the fun part: we’re going to squeeze this garlic into the bowl; it comes right out. Roasted garlic is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Once the garlic’s out of the oven change the temperature to 500 degrees Fahrenheit—that’s a high broil we’ll be using that for our toast later on.

Now I’m going to use a fork to mash this up. To my garlic I’m adding one cup or 226 grams of unsalted softened butter. Mash that up. Once your butter is mixed in we’re going to add in about a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and half a teaspoon of sea salt. Sea salt has a mellower flavor than table salt so it actually makes a difference and I highly recommend you use it. Give this a mix and now we’re going to add in about a quarter cup of our freshly chopped herbs right in the bowl, mix that up.

Prepare the Sourdough Toasts

Grab a loaf of sourdough bread, we’re going to give it a slice. I only need eight slices for this recipe so you can reserve the rest of the bread for later. Get a big baking sheet out, we’re gonna lay our slices right on top and use half of the butter for the bread. Be generous with the compound butter; it’s gonna add so much flavor and seep all through the bread. My toast is ready to go into the oven: 500 degrees for two to three minutes or until it’s golden brown and you’ll definitely smell it.

Cook the Clams

My toasts are in the oven, they’re going to come out in just one second—they smell amazing—but in the meantime we’re gonna add the remaining compound butter right into our Dutch oven. That’s gonna be so good. You can see that this is going to go over medium heat now until it’s nice and melty.

While the compound butter is melting we’re gonna grab one of the stars of this dish: the champagne. This is going to be adding like a nice little bit of acidity into the dish, it’ll give it a lift. Let’s open up some champagne. This butter looks amazing. It’s time to add our clams in—just careful don’t chip your pot—as well as the champagne. Pour that right over; we only need a cup. Make sure all the clams are mostly submerged and now add your lid. We’re going to simmer for six to nine minutes or until the clams are opened up and just cooked. Do not overcook your clams.

Finish and Serve

My toasts are out of the oven. On the top golden, they’re a little bit soft in the middle, and on the bottom they’re not burnt, they’re not too pale—it’s a perfect golden color. My clams are almost ready. Make sure you have some nice lemon wedges at the ready for serving as well as extra herbs to sprinkle on top and some big bowls.

It’s time to check our clams. Let’s take a look—oh look at that, they are open and ready. We’re gonna take this off heat. One very important thing first: set aside any unopened clams; we’re not going to eat those.

Transfer your clams into a nice big bowl. Ladle some of this amazing champagne butter herb sauce all over our clams, making sure not to grab any grit that might have come out of the clams from the bottom of your pot. Sprinkle some herbs on top as well. This is also a great moment for a light sprinkle of big-flaked sea salt over the clams. Add a couple of these amazing sourdough toasts. Now you’re ready to have one of the best meals ever. That bread is soaked in that butter, needs to get soaked into the champagne herbed butter now and enjoyed with those clams. That is so lovely; it is the perfect meal to while away an afternoon with friends or even just by yourself. I can eat this whole thing and be completely contented.