You can prepare the clams right in their baking dish up to several hours in advance and bake them just before you serve them.

　　

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

　　36 littleneck clams

　　4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

　　2 red or yellow bell peppers, roasted and peeled as described on next page, cut into 1-inch squares

　　12 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch squares

　　6 tablespoons unsalted butter

　　1 cup dry white wine

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

　　

Step 2

Shuck the clams as described on page 7, reserving the clam juice and arranging the clams on the half shell side by side in a 13 × 11–inch baking dish. Strain the juice through cheesecloth or a very fine sieve into the baking dish. Sprinkle some of the parsley over the clams. Top each clam with a square of roasted pepper. Cover the pepper with two squares of bacon. Using about 3 tablespoons of the butter, dot the top of each clam with about 1/4 teaspoon butter. Cut the remaining butter into several pieces and tuck them in and around the clams in the baking dish. Add the wine and remaining parsley to the baking dish.

　　

Step 3

Bake until the bacon is crisp and the pan juices are bubbling, about 12 minutes. Arrange clams on a warmed serving platter, or divide them among warmed plates. Pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and bring to a boil on top of the stove. Boil until lightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon the juices over the clams and serve immediately.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.