The Easiest Seafood To Grill Involves Almost No Prep Time At All

You've grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, the two meats celebrity chef Robert Irvine suggested beginner grillmasters start with. You've tried your hand (or your tongs, as the case may be) with a couple of steaks here and there — maybe you started with a London broil so you wouldn't have to worry about making an expensive mistake. But where do you go from there? Seafood, perhaps, but what kind of seafood? We talked to Angelo Caruso, owner and chef of Angelo's Ristorante in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and he says we ought to give clams a try.

"Clams are surprisingly easy to cook," explains Caruso. "There's almost no prep involved, and they naturally tell you when they're done, which is once the shells open." And unlike a tuna steak (cooked on a grill or with a torch) or a piece of salmon, you don't have to fuss too much over whether clams are overcooked. "Plus, they're more forgiving than many types of seafood, so it's hard to overcook them," adds Caruso. Granted, that doesn't mean it's impossible to overcook clams — make sure you remove them one at a time as each shell pops open, rather than waiting for all of them to open as a collective — but it's still nice to know you have a safety net.

So once you've decided you want to pop some bivalves on the ol' grill, where do you get them? "The best place to buy clams is your local seafood market," says Angelo Caruso. "They'll have the freshest options, often sourced directly from nearby waters." After you finally get your hands on them, you can start preparing them in earnest. "To prepare, soak the clams in cold water and gently toss them until no sand remains at the bottom," shares Caruso. From there, you put them on the heat.

"Close the lid [of the grill] and let them cook until the shells pop open, which usually takes just anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size," instructs Caruso. As we said earlier, you'll want to take each clam off as soon as they pop open, or else they're liable to overcook. But once you do that, you've got some tender, tasty seafood, fresh off the grill. Caruso recommends tossing them with the marinade of your choice, and is even considerate enough to provide his own for us to try. "I like to prepare mine with extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and lemon," he says. It's tart, it's briny, and it's delicious — what a concept!