Clams Casino in a casserole

Remember all the clams the big guy insisted on bringing back on dry ice from Oregon - the same ones that made him feel like the great white hunter every time he brought home the limit...which seemed to be daily? Well, we had some of them last night in a lower calorie version of clams casino.

Without shells to put these guys into, I figured I'd just ramp 'em up a bit, shave off as many extra calories as I could, and cook 'em up in individual casseroles instead. The original recipe's adapted from Foodnetwork and the last time we had them was way back in July when we were in Yachats at our little vacation rental. Why'd we wait so long for a repeat, I wonder!

I chopped 2 slices of bacon really fine and sauteed it until it was perfectly brown and crisp. Reserving only 1 teaspoon of bacon fat from the pan after the bacon was removed, I sauteed chopped onion, red pepper, garlic and some dried oregano until the onion was soft, then added a half cup of white wine and let the whole thing reduce for for a few minutes. After it cooled in a bowl for 15 minutes, a cup of chopped raw gaper clams joined the veggies along with a little parmesan cheese. The whole concoction then moved to two individual casseroles, were sprinkled with bacon and each capped with 5 crushed Ritz crackers and a little more parmesan cheese. Finished in a 350 oven for 25 minutes, it was just long enough to clean up the kitchen and make a nice fresh green salad.

The verdict - pretty darn delicious. Although a little butter or olive oil may have helped, the difference was really negligible in the overall scheme of things and removing 2 Tablespoons of olive oil called for in the original recipe meant we saved 238 calories right there. Reducing the bacon to 2 slices from 4 saved 80 calories and replacing the bread crumbs (240 calories) with crushed Ritz crackers (160 calories) eliminated the need to butter the crumbs (200 calories), had I used dried breadcrumbs instead. That means I cut a whopping 598 calories from the original recipe without sacrificing one bit of flavor! Here's the new version Download Clam's Casino Version 2

Now in my heart I know you can do this with almost any of the old favorite recipes - I said I know it in my heart, but hey I grew up on a farm eating home made butter and unpasteurized cream and milk that wasn't homogenized or pasteurized (ewwww) and old habits die hard. I mean when the big guy and I were first married I'd go through 2 pounds of butter a week, just cookin' for the two of us. Disgusting isn't it? Over the years I've managed to cut that back SOME, but that's kind of what got us where we are today, right?  MMM - nuff said.

Comments

[noble pig]

Wow you saved a lot of calories there, it looks delish as I love clams casino.

[Mags]

I'm impressed! Shaving 500 calories off of one meal a day translates into losing a pound a week even if no other changes are made. And you make it look so easy! I need to hang out with you.

[June]

Just to clarify - that was 598 calories off the total recipe which means 299 calories a piece cause we split the dish between the two of us. It can really add up though can't it? Mags, as for hangin' with me - I'd LOVE it!