Portuguese Steamed Littlenecks

Recipe courtesy of The Cape Cod Fish & Seafood Cookbook by Gillian Drake. This cookbook can be purchased at many bookstores on Cape Cod, at Nauset Fish Market in Orleans and also through Amazon.com.

Ingredients

48 littleneck clams
1 pound linguica sausage
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped scallions
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup white wine

Directions

Scrub clams well and rinse in cool water. Slice linguica and crumble. Place lingucia, tomatoes, onion, scallions, parsley, garlic, wine and ¾ cup of water into a large kettle. Place clams on top, cover and bring to a boil. Boil until the clams have opened completely. To serve, divide clams and sauce equally into 4 large soup plates. Serve with extra broth on the side and plenty of crusty Portuguese bread.
This recipe may easily be transformed into Steamed Clams Madeira by omitting the linguica and replacing the white wine with Madeira and the parsley for fresh chopped basil.