This is perfect little bite before a meal: warm, savory, and unexpected, it gets your palette working and your face grinning before you even get to the table.  The combination of fresh herbs with aged cheese is fantastic with the smokey, briny flavor of the clams.

If you’ve never opened a clam by hand before, have your local fishmonger show you; or, if it’s too much bother, you can partially steam the clams by placing them in a sauté pan over medium heat, add a cup of boiling water, put the lid on, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the clams start to open. Remove the empty top shell and you’re good to go.  If you do partially steam them, just make sure not to cook them for too long under the broiler. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

12 to 14 little neck clams

1/4 cup white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon chives

1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup parm, grated

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to Broil.

Open clams with a clam knife, saving the juice in a bowl. Add  white wine and lemon juice to the bowl. Pour the liquid over the clams.

Next, mix the breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, cayenne, chives and parsley.  Sprinkle over the clams, then top with grated cheese.  Drizzle with melted butter and broil until bread is golden brown.