• Cooking Time: 12 minutes
• Servings: 2
• Preparation Time: 5 minutes
• • 1 dozen whole little neck clams, shucked, juices reserved
• • 1 tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for garnish
• • 1 tsp. garlic, minced, plus 3 cloves peeled, but left whole
• • ¼ cup fresh parsley, divided in 2
• • ¼ tsp. dried oregano
• • ¼ tsp. black pepper
• • 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• • ¾ cup dried bread crumbs
• • 2 tbs. good olive oil
• • 1 tbs. butter
• • ¼ cup white wine
• • 1 thick cut or 2 regular slices of Oscar Meyer Bacon (It’s what I prefer), sliced in ¼” slices

1. Place breadcrumbs, ½ of the parsley, oregano, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, lemon juice and 1 tbs. of the olive oil in bowl. Mix to incorporate evenly
2. -Place 1 tsp. of breadcrumb mix on top of each clam
3. -In a pan large enough to accommodate the 12 clams, brown bacon. Remove bacon to paper towel to drain. Discard all but 1 tbs. of the bacon fat to be left in bottom of the pan
4. -Off heat, add the wine, 3 whole cloves of garlic, pat of butter, and any remaining clam juice from shucking
5. -Arrange clams in single layer in pan, drizzle with remaining 1 tbs. of olive oil
6. -Place pan in oven for 1O minutes
7. -Baste each clam with juices
8. -Place one slice of crispy bacon on top of each clam
9. - Broil for 1-2 minutes until each clam top is browned and slightly crispy on the edges
10. -Serve with toasted bread

I love these clams and I usually make them when I serve steamers. I eat them for an appetizer. You wind up eating these with your hands and ultimately get all messy, but who cares? Your dipping bread into the drippings of butter, wine and broth. All the sound you hear is MMMMmmm!