clams and linguine Archives - Proud Italian Cook

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

Linguine and clams or as Italians call it, Pasta Alle Vongole is the kind of dish that can make a midweek meal feel special as well as a date night dinner or a fabulous dinner for entertaining and the holidays.

Speaking of holidays, Christmas is a couple of weeks away and The Feast Of The Seven Fishes will be celebrated on Christmas Eve, and this is the perfect dish to feature as one.

My white sauce version consists of good olive oil, lots of garlic, white wine and fresh clams. It’s so easy to make, very affordable and down right delicious!

In my version I like to use a mix of Little Neck clams in the shell and some raw chopped sea clams that I discovered over at Whole Foods from my fish monger. They’re freshly shucked and then frozen.

If you can get your hands on these frozen chopped clams I highly recommend, very tender and delicious clam meat that tastes really fresh, but. remember they don’t have any clam juice with them, they’re just fresh shucked clams that are frozen, so you’ll need. bottled clam juice.

If you can’t find them you can replace it with 2 jars of shelled baby clams, use the liquid but I still prefer the bottled clam juice.

I like going heavy on the clams, the more the merrier!

Although it’s not mandatory to add clams in the shell to this dish, I personally love the presentation and the mix of them both together.

This dish comes together in less than 30 minutes, just get the water going for the pasta and start to make the sauce.

The longest part in making this dish may be the cleaning of the whole clams, I think I do a little over kill of that because one time, very long ago I left sand inside and ruined the whole meal, so I tend to rinse and rinse and rinse, so you’ll want to do that ahead of time.

It’s all so worth it in the end when you have this sweet and meaty clam and pasta dish filled with wine and garlicky goodness sitting in front of you!

Linguine With White Clam Sauce

A special weeknight, date night, entertaining and holiday dish, linguine and white clam sauce will never disappoint.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

1 pound linguine or spaghetti
1 lb. fresh shucked clams, previously frozen which I buy at Whole Foods, or ask your fish monger if they carry them, defrosted in fridge
(NOTE:) You can replace the frozen shucked clams with 2 7 oz. bottles of whole shelled. baby clams, use the juice it comes with or drain them and buy bottled clam juice.
1 dozen whole fresh clams in the shell like Little necks or steamers. ( I always get a few more in case some don't open.)
1 bottle of clam juice
6 garlic cloves chopped
⅓ to ½ cup of dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio, Chardonay or Savignon Blanc
¼ cup and more of olive oil
chili flakes enough to your liking
a big punch of fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
a squeeze of lemon, not too much, just a little

Instructions

You can store your fresh clams in a bowl with ice cubes on top a day ahead, do not submeergee in water.
When ready to use the clams, scrub them first on the shell then place them into a bowl with cold water and a small handful of cornmeal, the cornmeal is said to draw out the sand, so I always do it. Let it sit for 10 minutes and scoop them out and discard the sandy water.
Do the rinsing several times until you don't see any sand at the bottom of the bowl.
In a big pot start your water boiling for the pasta, don't forget to add a nice handful of salt to the water.
In a deep large skillet add the olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes, saute til lightly golden.
Add the Little neck clams and the wine and let it reduce a little.
Pour in ¾ of the bottled clam juice, (depending on juicy you want it you can decide to toss in the rest) the fresh shucked and defrosted clams or the 2 drained jars of clams plus a squeeze of lemon, put a lid on top and cook and steam til the whole clams open up and everything melds together, it doesn’t take very long.
Discard any unopened clam shells or broken shells as well.
Cook your pasta til al dente and toss into the clam sauce mix.
Add the parsley, maybe more red pepper flakes and a good drizzle of olive oil all over.
Enjoy!

Mario’s Linguine with Clams

If you’re a fan of pasta with shellfish then you can’t go wrong with Mario Batali’s Linguine with Clams.
Speaking of Mario, I’ve been enjoying the old reruns of Molto Mario on the the new

Cooking Channel on cable, have you seen it yet? Although it’s owned by the Food Network it’s a refreshing change from all the competitions and the other over done shows that go on there.

What you’ll love about this recipe is the light garlicky tomato and wine sauce that the clams and pasta bathe in, the flavors are amazing together!

Here’s the recipe which I slightly adapted. You might even want to consider this for Fathers Day, it’s that good!

Linguine with Clams

3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 pound linguine
12 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, I used 10
1 pound littleneck clams, scrubbed, I used 4 1/2 pounds, this was a main dish
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, I used a little less but added more on my plate
1 cup dry white wine
1 (14-ounce) can whole San Marzano tomatoes in juice, juice reserved and tomatoes coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped I added some basil too.

Here’s what you do:

In large pot over moderately high heat, combine 8 quarts of water to boil and salt. Bring to boil, then add linguine and cook to 1 minute short of al dente according to package directions (pasta should still be quite firm).
Meanwhile, in large sauté pan over moderately high heat, heat 6 tablespoons extra- olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add garlic and sauté until just golden, about 30 seconds. Add clams and 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes and sauté 1 minute. Add wine, tomatoes and juice, and 1/2 cup parsley and simmer, uncovered, just until clams open, 7 to 8 minutes.
Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain linguine and add to pan. Simmer, tossing occasionally, until linguine is just tender, about 1 minute. If necessary, add some of reserved cooking water to keep moist. Remove from heat. Add remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and extra-virgin olive oil, tossing to coat. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately.

Of course you’ll need some crusty garlic bread to sop up all that yummy sauce, so here’s the recipe!

Garlic Bread with Herbs

1 stick butter (1/2 cup), at room temperature
2 garlic cloves, mashed into a paste with a pinch of salt and olive oil
2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh parsley and basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 loaf crusty baguette
Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

For the bread, stir together the butter, mashed garlic, and herbs in a small
bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cut open the bread lengthwise and spread the garlic mixture over the halves. I cut mine in quarters so it was easier to fit on the baking sheet.
drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes or until nicely golden.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there!