Readers of The Bitten Word cooked every recipe in the September 2013 Bon Appetit magazine. Here's their take on Clam and Bacon Pizza.
Debbie: OK who woulda thought clams on a pizza would work, but it was delicious. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want it every week or month for that matter. But once a year it would be great, especially during the summer. It also had a huge garlic flavor, which was great unless you don't like that much garlic. All in all, a great dish.
Katarina: The pizza was a challenge for me, as I'm not used to cooking seafood. It was good, but not stunning and definitely not worth all the time you need to spend preparing it. Next time I'd try to straightforward the process (if any next time will be).
Lucy: The completed pizza was fantastic -- the brininess from the clams, heat from the chili flakes and the slight sweetness of the blanched garlic came together beautifully. That said, making the dish gave me plenty of time to contemplate the necessity of the blanched garlic. Too fussy for a typical weeknight meal!
Ginny: I spread out the prep over a couple of days which made things a lot easier -- clams cooked and garlic sauce made on day one, bacon cooked and assembly/baking on day two. Here's a tip, don't peel your garlic. After it has been simmered and cooled, the skins slip right off. I did use store-bought pizza dough. I also used my grill and a pizza stone because it was 90F here in Bethesda and I didn't want to fire up my oven. After his first bite my husband said, "This is the best pizza." I will definitely use that garlic puree again, maybe add a little chicken stock if I am not doing clams. IMHO, clams are better on their own than topping a pizza.
Beth: In a word...Flavor-town! The garlic and stock puree packed a great flavor and the bacon and clams offer a great salty note with the garlic. The parsley is a must because it really brightens up the dish. I used dough from our local pizzeria which was great to get a thin crust. Few negatives on the recipe...a major step is missed in the beginning. About an 1 to 2 hours before you steam the clams they need to be soaked with cornmeal to eliminate the sand from the clams. I remembered too late and it was noticeable. Huge flaw. I also still don't know why you need to boil the garlic in new water three times. I even searched it online and did not find this tip anywhere. I assume it eliminates the harshness from the garlic, but that should have been included. Overall, flavor of the dish was awesome, but the recipe was lacking.
Sarah: I was thrilled when I saw this interesting pizza assigned to me, and it turned out to be a simple yet delicious dish! My favorite part was the garlic clam sauce and we were happy that so much of the clam flavor really came through even with all the bacon. The parsley added a fresh element to counter the salty, briny flavors of the other ingredients. All in all, it was a great pizza and something fun that I would never have thought about making before.
Anthea: This pizza is definitely up there with the best I have ever had. Nothing about making this pizza was difficult, though there were a lot of steps (some of these I did the day before) -- braise the garlic, fry the bacon, steam the clams, puree the sauce. The final product was like nothing I had ever made or eaten before. The combination of sweet garlic, a hint of seafood, crispy bacon and cheese took this pizza to a whole new level. I made one change to the recipe and that was to make my own pizza dough using the Jim Lahey no-knead method (can be found at epicurious.com). It seemed such a shame to put forward so much effort and such expensive ingredients only to use store-bought dough. How expensive? I estimate that this pizza cost a bit over $30 due to the clams. Would I make it again? Yes, perhaps for a special occasion...what can we celebrate next week?
Get the Clam and Bacon Pizza recipe at Bon Appétit