Take a Can of Clams

On days when the rain pours and the wind roars, it warms the cockles of my culinary heart to be able to resort to my well-stocked pantry when it’s time to cook a meal.

When I was a kid down on the Oregon coast, people harvested cockles with rakes in the shallows of Tillamook Bay. We put them in a tub of water, sprinkled them with oatmeal and left them to spit out sand for a couple of days. Only then were they fit to eat, steamed and dunked in melted butter. Yum.

But how much easier it is to just open a can of anonymous "clams"—not cockles, nor quahogs, nor razor clams, nor geoducks, just "clams. One can of chopped clams and their liquid will serve two people as Corncakes or as Clam Chowder. Made into Corn Clam Chowder, it will serve four.

CORNCAKES
2 Servings

 1 (6.5 oz.) can chopped clams
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 egg
1 green onion, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
Hoisin sauce, optional

Sift dry ingredients. Stir in the thyme. Make a deep dent in the mixture. Pour in the juice from the clams, but reserve the clam meat. Add the egg. Fork-beat well. Stir in the clam meat.

Let rest 15 minutes while you make a salad and zap a couple of potatoes in the microwave.

In a wide skillet, heat half the oil. As if making ordinary pancakes, ladle tablespoonful of batter onto the hot surface. Flip when cakes are bubbly at their edges. When golden on both sides, and done inside, transfer to a platter lined with a paper towel. Keep warm in oven. Continue until all the batter gone.

At the table let diners spread the cakes with hoisin sauce, found in the Oriental section at Thriftway.

Gluten-free Clamcakes: Use 1/3 cup millet flour and 1/3 cup sorghum flour, or 2/3 cup sorghum flour.

CORN CLAM CHOWDER: sauté ¼ cup minced onion and 1 clove garlic, minced, in 2 Tablespoons butter or oil. Dice and add 1 small, unpeeled red potato. Add it and enough water to almost cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and cook 15 minutes. Add 1 (15-oz.) can cream-style corn and 1 can milk. Stir, heat to steaming. Just before serving, stir 1 can chopped clams with its clam juice.