Tim O’Toole’s Famous Stuffed Quahogs

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 1 (16 ounce) package Portuguese chourico sausage links
• 12 quahogs
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 (12 ounce) package chicken-flavored bread stuffing mix (such as Kraft Stove Top)
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add sausage links; reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove links from broth; reserve the broth. Remove casings from the sausage.

Bring the broth back to a simmer and add the quahogs; cook until they open, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the quahogs; reserve the broth. Remove the cooked quahogs from the shells. Separate the shell halves. If necessary wash the shells.

Place the sausage and quahog meat into the bowl of a food processor; process until chopped, about 12 seconds, depending on your processor. Scrape mixture into a bowl. Add chopped onion to the processor; chop about 5 seconds. Stir in to the meat mixture.

Make the full container of stuffing according to package directions, using the margarine, and substituting the sausage/clam broth for water. There may be more broth than you need.

Mix together the stuffing and sausage/clam/onion mixture. Spoon filling into empty clam shell halves and top each with a small pat of butter (about a third of a teaspoon).

Place the shells on a baking pan; bake in the preheated oven until toasty brown on top, 15 to 20 minutes.