Linguine con Vongole al Forno

 

SERVES 4

 

This is a method and the amount of ingredients is not scientific. You prepare the sauce and keep it warm while you boil the pasta for part of its cooking time, and then combine them and finish cooking in the oven. Then you move quickly, placing the drained pasta into a foil lined baking dish, quickly adding the sauce, clams and other seasonings, sealing up the foil pouch, and putting the dish into a hot oven.  The pasta soaks up the sauce and finishes cooking along with the clams, and that’s it!

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. linguine

 

~12 oz chopped clams

            canned clams – usually 6.5 oz cans so two cans  

- or -

frozen clams, defrosted – usually 10-12 oz package                   

Strain  the liquid into a measuring cup and put the clams aside in a small bowl.  

Fresh clam option: In addition to canned or frozen clams, wash the sand off 6-12 live clams. Put in a pan, cover with cold water and the pan lid, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 10 minutes until the clams open. Remove from heat, strain off the liquid into a measuring cup and set clams aside.                           

~ 1 cup of clam broth – in addition to the broth you saved from the canned, frozen or fresh clams, use either bottled clam juice, which usually comes in 8 oz. bottles, or 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillion Clam Base with 8 oz. of water to make up one cup of broth

~4 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped   

~2 teaspoons thyme

           

~¼ - ½ teaspoon or more to taste hot red pepper flakes 

~3 tablespoons brandy 

~¼ cup parsley, chopped

Freshly grated black pepper - optional

 

2 ½-3 quart oven proof baking dish

Aluminum foil

 

. . . . . . . .

 

Instructions:

▪ Preheat oven to 500°.

 

▪ Bring water to boil in a large pot for cooking the pasta.

 

▪ Make an aluminum foil liner for your baking dish that will enclose the pasta and sauce: Layer two pieces of foil that are about twice as long as your baking dish. Fold them over about ¼”along the long edge, press flat, then repeat the fold to make a seam so when you open it out you have a large rectangle of foil. Center this in the baking dish, and gently mold it to fit the bottom.

 

▪ Prepare all the other ingredients and have them at hand. 

 

▪ Heat the olive oil, add the garlic, and cook briefly to bloom the garlic 1-2 minutes without letting it brown.

▪ Add the thyme and all of the liquid you saved from the clams plus the extra broth and keep it warm on low heat. 

 

▪ Add linguine to the boiling water, stir it around to separate the strands, cook for 5-6 minutes, and drain.

 

▪ Moving quickly so there is minimal interruption to cooking the pasta, place the drained linguine into the foil lined baking dish. Add the warm garlic broth, the clams, red pepper flakes, brandy, parsley, and black pepper. Gather the sides of the foil up and crimp together to make an airtight pouch. Put the dish in the oven for 12 minutes, then carefully open the foil and transfer to a serving bowl. 

 

▪ Mangia bene!