ANNA and AJ’s famous White Clam Pizza!
Here she is… This White Clam Pizza is about to go National!!! I will be preparing this classic New England Pizza for Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot as my Signature Dish on the premiere of MasterChef USA/FOX tonight and tomorrow night, June 4th and 5th at 9pm on FOX. My hope is to give the guys a (stunning) bite of AJ’s and my life style….clean and honest. We like to keep things simple and celebrate the seasonal flavors of New England. Basically, this is what we would serve you if you were coming over to our home for a summer brunch! The original inspiration for the White Clam Pizza comes from Pepe’s in New Haven, CT. AJ and I have made this dish our own over the last 6 years, taking inspiration from clamming at Sandy Point in Connecticut and our window sill herb garden…this pie is far from ordinary and yet another labor of love. From start to finish, including the dough, this will be ready to serve in under an hour. Hopefully the rustic charm and bright flavors will set me apart from the other 99 Best Home Cooks in America, fingers crossed! (Spoiler alert: Here’s what the judges had to say!)
Flash bake pizza dough to keep crust crisp and clams tender
TOPPINGS:
Makes 1x 10″ pizza
- 2-3 dozen littleneck clams, raw, shucked
- 3 Tbs EVOO
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 Tbs equal parts fresh oregano, thyme, parsley minced
- 2 Tbs Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- Juice from 1/2 lemon, 2 Tbs EVOO for garnish
PREPARATION:
- Prepare Mom’s 35 Minute Pizza Dough
- Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500F
- Shuck clams, rinsing shell thoroughly before you open. Reserve clam meat and juice in a bowl. Use kitchen shears to coarsely chop meat. I like pieces to be about the size of a nickel.
Shucked and Chopped Falmouth Cherrystones
- Combine olive oil, garlic and lemon zest in small pot. Bring to a soft simmer and immediately shut off and remove from heat.
- Flash bake 10″ dough 3-4 minutes, flip once for remaining minute.
- Baste flash baked dough with garlic and lemon zest infused olive oil
- Generously top with juicy chopped clam meat (you will have a lot of juice left over, save for another recipe)
- Sprinkle with oregano and parmigiano
- Bake approx 2-3 minuted until cheese has slightly melted and edges begin to softly brown. Do not over cook as clams will become dry and chewy.
- Pull from oven, and garnish with fresh squeezed lemon juice and drizzle lightly with EVOO.
- Slice and serve.
Ready for the oven
Not sure you love clams? This will make a lovah out of you yet!
*This recipe has been modified slightly from the original version. MasterChef/FOX reserves the official rights.
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I just saw you guys on MC and wanted to congratulate both of you! Your meals looked absolutely incredible and I’m so excited to make this pizza. As a fellow Bostonian, I wish you both all the luck in this competition. Kick some ass!
Thanks Julie! We appreciate the support, especially coming from a fellow Bostonian:) Hope you enjoy the recipes and thanks for the encouragement!!!
Intend to try this pizza this weekend. And the Dirty Lobster soon. If I had to vote right now for Master Chef, it would be a tie between you and your husband! Good luck to both of you.
Thanks Jeanie!!! Hope you enjoy both. They are two of our favorites! Let us know if there is an evident winner;)
I saw your pizza this week on the show and was salivating!!! I am making it for supper tomorrow, thank you for sharing and I wish you the best of luck on Master Chef!!
Thanks Tina! Let us know what you think! Cherrystones are a way of life in this household..
This pizza is world’s beyond good. We’ve enjoyed it many times together. One of the many advantages of being related to the cook(s)~!!
Thanks for being such a great critic! Nothing beats sharing meals with family and friends:) You guys are the best…
We were rooting for you on MC, and my husband (the chef at our house) is excited to make this dish and the dirty lobster. We’re Bostonians too (North Shore), and are signing up for the Cape Ann Fresh Catch (he’s wicked excited about it!). That’s how I found your blog, and we’re looking forward to trying your Fresh Catch recipes too. Thanks and looking forward to following you! – Janet
Thanks Janet! We are huge fans of the Cape Ann Fresh Catch CSF. Make sure you bring a good cooler for transport as the fish arrives minimally packaged. I hope you enjoy the program as much as we do and let us know how the pizza and dirty lobster turn out! I was sorry I wasn’t able to take Boston across the finish line on MasterChef!
Thanks for the tip about the cooler. And I’m willing to bet we’ll be seeing a lot of you both on the Food Network. We’ll be watching for you. You do Boston proud! 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I’ve made it quite a few times… recently I had extra shrimp and crabmeat lying around, so I threw some on the pizza with the clams… INCREDIBLE! Give it a try… you won’t be sorry! Thanks for sharing such a fabulous, and easy to duplicate recipe.
Thanks Skippp! That sounds delicious!!!