Steamed Clams, Portuguese Style - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 lbs linguica sausage or 2 lbs chorizo sausage, sliced into 3 to 4 inch lengths (portuguese sausage)
1 large onion, sliced into wedges
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
5 lbs clams in shell (smaller the better)
lemon wedge (optional)
chopped fresh parsley (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Preparation

Prepare clams: put them in a bowl or pan and cover with cold water; add some cornmeal& salt to the water- they'll ingest this and'spit out' any sand they're carrying.
Leave them in this for 4 hrs, changing to clean water about halfway through.
Discard any open clams.
In a large stockpot, warm the oil over medium heat.
Add the garlic& red pepper; saute until garlic is golden.
Add the sausage, onion, tomatoes, wine& water; stir to mix.
Add the clams, turn heat to high& cover- steam until clams open- approximately 8 minutes.
Discard any clams that do not open.
Divide clams and broth into 5 soup bowls; if desired, sprinkle with parsley& cilantro and serve with a lemon wedge.