Steamer Clams from Coastal Seafoods

My brother-in-law is from the east coast and suggested that we get steamer clams while everyone was visiting the unemployed guy's house for Christmas.  If you're not aware of what steamer clams are, I would describe them as somewhere between quahog clams (the big white ones) and mussels.  

They did this for Christmas last year, but ordered them online.  When they came in, lots of them were dead and of course you have pay a little bit extra for shipping so that they're really fresh.  I told them that there's a store here that can get everything.  For instance, my wife and I have gotten fresh Alaskan king crab from there (not frozen at all); this is a fairly rare item. 

So we were able to reserve 15 pounds of steamer clams (it was definitely an entree and not the appetizer that it usually is in New England restaurants.)  Coastal Seafoods got them in from their distributor and we didn't pay shipping and before we paid, the guy there sorted out the dead clams so we didn't have to pay for those.  I thought that was great so this post is a little plug for them.

My brother-in-law did the cooking, but I seem to remember you steam them for like 5 or 10 minutes.  What's interesting is that after getting the clam meat out, you dip it in some of the water used for steaming.  This helps clear out some of the sand and stuff.  And then, of course, it goes in the butter.  We also served artichokes in and it was all butter delivery that night.  But it was a very nice Christmas Eve dinner.