Clams are so easy to make on the grill.  My wife and I decided to do a seafood appetizer platter with Grilled Shrimp and Clams.  Check out my Shrimp on the Barbie blog for the shrimp recipe.   Below is how to make Grilled Clams and Spicy Butter Sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs little neck clams (about 30)
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 finely chopped clove of garlic
• 1/2 finely chopped jalepeno
• 1 teaspoon fresh shredded horseradish
• 2 Tablespoons white wine
• Tabasco to taste (I do about 10 shakes)
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Sauce Preparation

Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small dipping bowl and microwave until the butter melts completely (30-40 seconds).  Mix and serve hot when the clams are done.

Grilling the Clams

Preheat the grill to high.  Put all of the clams on the grill and make sure all clams are laying flat, then don’t touch them again until you pull them off the grill.  As the clams open up, they are ready to be pulled off the grill (approximately 5-7 min).  They may not all be ready at the same time, so wait until they open.  I usually get about 4 clams that don’t open.  Don’t try to pry them open and don’t eat them.  

You can serve them up with a small toasted loaf of sourdough bread (great to dip in the sauce).  An even easier alternative to the Spicy Butter Sauce is to pull the clams off the grill and sprinkle olive oil over the clams (aim for the meat), then try to shoot a drop of Tabasco in each clam.

-GrillDude