Rosie And Her Clams.

The Hawthornes are having clams today - littlenecks and cherrystones. The terms signify the size of the clams. Cherrystones are up to 3 inches in size and are named for Cherrystone Creek on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Littlenecks are smaller, less than 2 3/4 inches, and are named for Littleneck Bay on Long Island, New York. The smaller the clam, the more tender and sweeter it is. Cherrystones generally are used for chowders and other cooked clam dishes. I'm making my version of Clams Casino with the cherrystones. For the littlenecks, I'm just steaming them until they open, and serving with melted butter and lemon juice for dipping.

Here are my toppings for the Clams Casino. scallions parsley bacon oregano white wine panko bread crumbs Parmesan cheese

And then I saw Mr. Hawthorne's

leftover tiny diced hash browns from breakfast. I'll be using these too.

These are the larger cherrystones going into the steamer basket. Steam until they just start opening up.

While the clams were steaming, I chopped the parsley and scallions and grated the Parmesan.

After cooking bacon pieces, I added in the parsley and scallions.

A few shakes of oregano.

A splash of white wine.

I had a few stalks of asparagus so I diced them and added to the pan.

I topped my cherrystones with the parsley/scallion/ asparagus mixture ...

... then I added the diced hash browns ...

... and finished them off with Panko and Parmesan.

These are ready for a quick trip under the broiler. You just want to melt the cheese and slightly brown the Panko.

Rosie's version of Clams Casino.

Here are the littlenecks. Sweet and tender. All they need is melted butter and lemon juice. And I believe I just got my fix of bivalve molluscs.

Wednesday Night's Dinner - Steamed Clams And Lobster Bisque.

I picked up some clams at Harris Teeter Wednesday afternoon before making the "score" of the hot burries. So, steamed clams are in order for dinner.

My aromatics:

bunch of thyme

bunch of parsley

slab of onion

garlic cloves

I stripped my thyme stems of leaves with the handy-dandy herb stripper Sister Hawthorne gave me.

And I chopped the onions and parsley and minced the garlic.

I added an extra virgin olive oil and Land o' Lakes butter to my hot pan.

Heated it to almost browning the buttah and tossed in the onions.

Thyme went in.

And lastly, add in the garlic.

You don't want the garlic to burn,

else it gets bitter.

Rinse off the clams first.

Then add them to the olive oil/butter/thyme/onion/garlic mixture.

Pour in about a cup of white wine, cover, and steam until the clams open.

Add in the fresh parsley.

Toss and serve.

I loved all the flavors in this dish - the fresh herbs, the garlic, the onion, the wine

the oceany goodness of the clams. Next time, I might add some lemon zest.

Plump, juicy little clam.

Come on. Admit it. You can see all the flavors. Next up, Lobster Bisque. If you recall from our Anniversary Dinner, we had cooked four lobsters - Larry, Curly, Moe, and Lucy. Mr. Hawthorne, Youngest Hawthorne, and I ate Larry, Curly, and Moe, so we had Lucy leftover. And Lucy is going into Wednesday night's bisque.

My start off ingredients: bacon onion garlic celery mushrooms homemade fish stock butter cream cheese heavy cream (which I forgot to put out) Sherry red pepper (for garnish) green onion (for garnish and I also forgot to put out) cayenne pepper salt and pepper

I chopped the onions, celery, and mushrooms, minced the garlic, and chopped the red pepper and sliced the green onion.

First I scissored my bacon and fried it up.

When the bacon was browned ...

... I added the sliced mushrooms.

I browned the mushrooms, then added in the onions, ...

... the celery, ...

... and just cooked for a few minutes.

I always add garlic at the very end, so as not to burn it and get a bitter taste.

A little flour went in which I cooked for a minute or two to get rid of the raw taste.

Then I slowly added in a quart of my homemade shrimp stock, letting it gradually thicken up.

I added in about 6 ounces of cream cheese, stirring to smooth it out.

Heavy cream went in for richness and bisque-ness. Here's Lucy Lobster, ready to be shelled and have her meaty wonderfulness go into the bisque.

Mr. Hawthorne broke open Lucy Lobster over the mixture ...

... letting the lobster joos drip into the pot.

Then Mr. Hawthorne extracted the lobster meat and put that in the pot.

I added the leftover clam liquid for extra flavor.

And a bit of Sherry went in because I love the flavor of Sherry in most anything, but especially in a bisque.

And here's my Lobster Bisque, with fresh parsley and scallions, red pepper, and cayenne pepper on top. Oh my. Rich. Creamy. Layers of flavors. This was thoroughly delightful.

Every spoonful had a piece of lobster in it. What a lovely meal this was.