There were a few stray littlenecks in the refrigerator, and I wasn’t sure they were fresh enough to be eaten raw since they’d been there eight days.  But I opened one, and it smelled fine.  I tasted it, and it tasted fine.  So I ate ‘em, and lived to tell the tale.

The clam juice was an ingredient in a leek and artichoke stew with cod and capers.  It was uninspired, I’m sorry to say.

You might also enjoy:

1. Clams and mint in a spicy tomato-lemon sauce* I clammed the clams yesterday, and the mint is growing like a weed in the windowbox. I wanted to try a new take on clam sauce, and this is what...
2. Littlenecks! We’ve found many excellent uses for large clams, but there’s still nothing like a littleneck.  When we get a peck of clams, there are almost always a few — but...
3. White clam sauce I used the larger clams from this weekend’s peck, with the strips cut up and the rest ground.  I made a pasta  sauce with onion, garlic, mustard, capers, and cilantro,...
4. Raw clams and red clam sauce* We ate the raw ones as we made the sauce. Red clam sauce (serves 3-4) 2 t. vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped 10-15 cloves garlic, minced or pressed 1-2 t....
5. Pasta with clam sauce It starts, like almost everything we make for dinner, with onions and garlic.  In this case, two large onions and about ten cloves of garlic, chopped and sauteed.  Then about...