Clams Three Ways and a Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake

The warm weather has finally come and with it our life outside. All of the furniture has been set in its place and new furniture ordered–we’re finally getting those Adirondack chairs to go around our fire pit. And of course that means clams. The outside simply wouldn’t be half of all it could be without clams consumed in abundance all summer long. And it began this weekend. First off, the clams were obtained by one of my fav-or-ite little shops–Pellicono’s– a sweet little Italian market that always has just the right cheeses. And on Saturday, they had a special on clams as well, so off to North Tonawanda we went and picked up a dozen or five (okay, five). All were scrubbed with cool water and set aside while the beer began to boil. Yes. Beer. I filled the bottom of a pot with the good stuff and once it began simmering, a dozen or so clams were placed in and the lid applied. Now. I got a head of myself a bit here. Before all that took place, about five hours before in fact, a red pepper and five garlic scapes were chopped fine and sauteed in about a quarter cup of bacon fat. Once all this was tender and fine, a cup of dark beer was added (I went with a porter) and this was stirred and left to simmer and reduce by half. To this I added a cup of fresh bread cubes from some hearty multi-grain bread I had on hand. The mixture was taken off the heat and set off by itself so all those flavors could get to know each other a bit better. Now. Fast forward five hours. The scape/pepper/bacon fat/bread/beer mixture is there. The freshly steamed clams are also there. It’s like it was meant to be. One half of the clam shell is twisted off while the other half is laid out flat and filled to the brim with all that good filling (being careful to cover that clam. No one wants a dried-out clam. No one.) These are set on a baking sheet until all that good filling is used up (for us it was sixteen). And when it is, each is doused with just a bit of melted butter for good measure and set in a preheated three-hundred-and-fifty-degree oven until they sizzle–about twenty minutes.

While those are baking, the rest of the clams have their turn with the beer until all are done. Now. Once they are, they’re doused with some of that melted butter and tossed with some freshly chopped thyme and eaten scalding hot. To me, this is what Summer is all about.

Now. What’s left in that pot that steamed those clams is something spectacular. Truly. I saved the last dozen clams and set them aside in the fridge with that broth-to-be. The next day, I took more bacon fat and a(nother) red pepper and a sweet onion, both diced fine. Once all is well with them, a couple potatoes diced medium are placed in and swirled around a bit before that luscious clam liquor mixed with beer from the other day is poured over all until it’s covered–if you don’t have enough juice to cover, just add some water to finish the job. It is left to simmer until those potatoes are just tender, and then a cup of half and half is poured over all, along with those twelve reserved clams, now chopped fine, and a bit of freshly chopped thyme to finish the job. Delicious.

And so of course we needed dessert. First off, I made my mock vanilla bean cheesecake in individual sizes. You’ll find that recipe on this site–do a bit of digging–I’m sure it’s here somewhere, I make it often enough. And for the base, I made a sponge cake to soak up all that strawberry goodness. To do that, three egg yolks were whipped until thick, along with two tablespoons of sugar. Once it was, a third cup of flour was added, along with a teaspoon baking powder and a dash of salt. To this, I stirred in two tablespoons of melted, then cooled butter. This was then set aside. The egg whites were whipped with a quarter teaspoon cream of tarter and three tablespoons sugar until soft peaks were formed. This meringue was folded into the egg yolk mixture until it was light and fluffy. A teaspoon of vanilla and a quarter of almond extracts were then added and the whole thing was spooned into a buttered nine-inch springform pan and set in a preheated three-hundred-and-fifty-degree oven where it was baked until just done. It was left by itself to cool while the strawberries were picked, sliced, and laced with sugar until their syrup flowed. The cooled cake was cut into circles the same diameter as the cheesecakes and said cheesecakes were set atop of each and covered with the strawberries and enjoyed thoroughly.