French bread clam pizza. Scott Suchman for The Washington Post

There’s a pizza out there with no tomato sauce and no mozzarella. It has clams – sometimes still in their shell – plus, some would say sacrilegiously, pecorino Romano cheese, along with garlic, dried chile and perhaps oregano or parsley. It bucks so many pizza conventions that it couldn’t have been engineered and focus-grouped in a lab. Instead, the white clam pie from New Haven, Connecticut, is an alchemy of a specific time, place and labor force, and it’s so deliriously good – piquant, briny, bright – that it’s worth ripping off at home.

Frank Pepe is widely recognized as the originator of New Haven-style pizza, and specifically the white clam pizza. He started by selling two kinds of pizza out of a pushcart to factory workers before opening his restaurant in 1925. It remains open and is the longest-running pizza joint in the area, albeit in a different location down the road.

The pizza he made was similar to the pizza in his hometown of Naples, with a thin crust and a slightly wet center. His pizzas were a little crisper, though, with significant char because they were cooked in coal ovens, which burn hotter and drier than the wood fire of Neapolitan pizzas.

At Pepe’s, they also served raw, freshly shucked littlenecks from nearby Rhode Island as an appetizer, and somehow, at some point in the 1960s, in a story that’s lost to history, those clams made it atop a white pizza. Excuse me, apizza, to use the Connecticut-Neapolitan vernacular, or “abeets” for short.

This toast has similar charm and flavors as those New Haven pies, but it’s made with staples you might even have in your home right now (no clam-shucking for you). Stir together canned clams with a heady combination of pecorino cheese, garlic, dried oregano, lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Lightly toast some bread under the broiler; this could be a slice of sourdough, a split French roll or whatever you have on hand. An English muffin would be delightful. Spoon the clam mixture onto the bread, then broil until bubbling, just a few minutes. A little singe around the edges of the bread will remind you of the coal-fire char of the original.

You might’ve caught on already, but this toast comes together incredibly quickly; it’s an ideal meal for crazed lunchtimes or late-night dinners. I’ve started making a double or triple batch of the clam mixture and keeping it on hand in the fridge to dole it out even quicker. Without local clams and a coal oven that eclipses 1,000 degrees, can you make a white clam pie at home? No, and yes … sort of. These toasts are a mere slice of the real deal, enough to tide you over until you can make a pilgrimage to New Haven.

French Bread Clam Pizza

2 servings

While this is a wonderful lunch or dinner for two, you can also double the clam topping, use a whole baguette, then cut into small pieces for a crowd. In place of a baguette, you can also use your favorite French bread or hero roll halved across the equator.

Make Ahead: The clam mixture can be refrigerated up to 2 days in advance. Broil right before serving.

INGREDIENTS

1 (6- to 8-ounce) can chopped clams, drained

¹/₃ cup (about 1 ounce) finely grated pecorino cheese (can also use parmesan cheese with a pinch of fine salt)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 lemon, zest finely grated, then cut into wedges

Big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

¹/₂ baguette (see headnote), about 12 inches long, split through the equator and halved across

DIRECTIONS

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat the broiler.

In a medium bowl, stir together the clams, pecorino, olive oil, garlic, oregano, lemon zest and pepper flakes.

Place the bread on a rimmed baking sheet, cut sides down, and broil for about 1 minute, or until lightly toasted (watch closely as broilers vary). Remove from the oven, turn the bread over, cut sides up, and top with the clam mixture, spreading all the way to the edge of the bread to prevent burning.

Broil for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Let cool slightly, then squeeze the lemon wedges over and serve.

Per serving (two 6-inch pieces baguette)

Calories: 468; Total Fat: 13 g; Saturated Fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 55 mg; Sodium: 876 mg; Carbohydrates: 52 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugar: 2 g; Protein: 32 g