By Christopher Kimball | Milk Street

A big bowl of steamed clams and juicy-crisp corn is summer eating at its finest. The combination is fresh, sweet and briny, almost like a chowder made for eating with your fingers.

In this recipe from our cookbook ” Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,” we finish the clams and corn with a small measure of crème fraîche (or whole-milk yogurt); the briny-sweet liquid released by the clams becomes a subtly creamy broth that’s as delicious as the clams themselves. Fennel perfumes the broth with anise-like notes.

Scrub the clams well before cooking and be sure to dispose of any with cracked or damaged shells. Give any clams with open shells a gentle tap and toss if they do not close within a few seconds.

If you can, use corn kernels cut from freshly shucked ears (you’ll need two good-size ears to get the 2 cups kernels called for in the recipe), but frozen corn works in the off-season. When buying corn, look for bright green husks and supple silk, and avoid ears small brown holes in the husk. To easily remove kernels from the cob, place the ear flat on the cutting board and slice, rotating as needed.

Serve with oyster crackers, or with crusty bread for mopping up the broth.

Steamed Clams with Corn, Fennel and Crème Fraîche

Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb, halved, cored and thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 cups corn kernels
2 pounds hard-shell clams (about 1½ inches diameter), such as littleneck or Manila, scrubbed
¼ cup crème fraîche OR plain whole-milk yogurt

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the fennel, onion, fennel seeds and a pinch of salt, then cook, stirring, until the vegetables are lightly browned. Stir in the corn and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and add the clams. Cover and cook over medium, stirring once or twice, until the clams have opened. Stir once more, then remove and discard any clams that haven’t opened. Off heat, stir in the crème fraîche and ½ teaspoon pepper. Season with salt.

Optional garnish: Hot sauce OR chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley OR lemon wedges OR a combination

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap