Thanks for all the help, I ended up not rinsing the clams after taking a good look at the container, they looked clean, nothing on the bottom
I simmered about 6 cloves of garlic through the press in about 1/3 c olive oil, Started with cold oil.
When I could smell the garlic I added 1 can of anchovies (with their oil) - also used some of that oil for my toasted breadcrumbs
Then I added the clams and about 2 tbps butter and some black pepper.
toasted the crumbs and put on top, it was good! Better than I though it would be, I think the butter made the difference, it didn’t taste salty at all even with the anchovies
and yes I used a small pinch of accent/msg 
I think the butter really helped the flavor imho
