Clampancakes

Or Clam Pancakes. Or Clammycakes.

Take your pick. I don't know what to call them.

Here's how they came about.

The other day, Bill took the kids fishing and thanks to Julia's playing around in the muddy sand, they disovered that there are clams in that thar mud.

So they didn't bring any fish home, but they did bring home about a dozen clams - most of them cherrystones, and two were a bit bigger. They're in Julia's hat, by the way.

I was originally going to make clamcakes, but I really didn't feel like heating up oil - and my kitchen - and then having to clean up the splatter.

So I thought about it while I was doing other things, and I thought, well, it's a batter with clams in it, right? So why not cook them on the griddle?

So that's what I did. Bill shucked the twelve clams and I diced them and strained the juice.

I made the batter while I heated up my griddle.

First, whisk together 2 ^_1/4 cups flour and 4 t baking powder.

In another bowl, combine 2 eggs with 1 _^1/2-1 _^3/4 cups clam juice. I had about a cup of clam broth, so I added water to bring it to the cup and a half mark. I wanted them on the thicker side, since they were going onto the griddle rather than into the oil.

I mixed the dry with the wet and then stirred in the chopped clams.

And here's what I ended up with:

They were really good - kind of like thick pancakes, but with the flavor of fresh clams throughout. I just sprinkled a bit of salt on them and that's how we ate them, although Bill and Alex both tried them with bits of smoked bluefish on top, too. You could make a sauce for them, maybe a tartar sauce or cocktail sauce - whatever you like with your clamcakes or fried clams would probably work.

They didn't have the crispy (and sometimes greasy) outer layer of a traditional clamcake, and depending on your preference, that could be a good or a bad thing.

Everyone around the table (Bill, the kids, me) liked them, and that's good enough for me. I'm thinking of adding some fresh corn to them next time. Or maybe garlic. Or scallions. Or....