Linguine with Clam Sauce

Linguini alle vongole is very easy to prepare, looks impressive, and most importantly is scrumptious. The hardest part will be finding the fresh clams. Ideally you want small, hard shell clams and depending upon your geographic location you might have access to littlenecks, manila clams or cockles. Alternatively, you can use larger clams such as cherrystones or quahogs; cook according to the directions below, and then before serving remove them from the sauce, extract the clams from the shells, chop the clams into small pieces, and add them back to the sauce. As a last resort you can use canned clams, but they simply will not be as good as fresh ones. If you are lucky enough to find frozen shucked clams they would be preferable to using the canned ones.

 

You can either buy bottled clam broth or make it up from the clam broth version of Better Than Bouillon concentrated paste.

 

SERVES 4

 

Ingredients: 

½ cup olive oil

4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced

 

½ cup chopped tomatoes, either fresh or canned (optional)

 

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

½ cup clam broth

1 pound linguine

 

2 pounds or 2 dozen small, fresh clams in the shell (see Note)

 

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

 

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Instructions:

▪ Fill a large pot with 4 quarts of cold water, cover it and bring to a full boil in preparation for cooking the pasta.

 

▪ You will also need a saucepan or frying pan with a tight fitting cover that is large enough to hold the clams. Place the olive oil in it over low heat, add the garlic and cook stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes without letting it brown

 

▪ Add the tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing for some of the liquid to evaporate. Omit this step if you are not including tomatoes.

 

▪ Add the thyme, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and wine or clam broth, and cook another 3 minutes.

 

▪ You will be cooking the pasta and the clams at the same time, so begin by adding salt to taste to the boiling water, and then add the pasta all at once, stir it to get it uniformly cooking, and set a timer for the recommended time on the package.

 

▪ Next, while the pasta cooks add the clams to the pan with the garlic and tomato mixture and place the cover on the pan immediately. Increase the heat to medium to develop the steam that will cook the clams. Depending on the size of the clams they will take 5 to 10 minutes to cook and you will know they are done when they are all open. Check the clams by quickly looking under the cover and replacing it immediately to minimize the escaping of steam. Remove from heat when they are finished cooking. Discard any clams that have remained closed.

 

▪ If you use canned clams, they are already cooked and only need heating at this stage. Frozen clams should be thawed first and then will only take a few minutes to cook, turning opaque white when they are done. Overcooking them will make them tough.

 

▪ Don’t forget about the pasta while the clams are cooking, and a minute or so before the end of the recommended pasta cooking time taste a piece of it for doneness. You’re looking for just a bit of resistance as you bite into it; not too hard and not too soft, but “al dente” or “to the tooth”.

 

▪ When the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the empty cooking pot. Add the clam sauce, shells and all if they are small, and toss the sauce and pasta together for a minute or so. If the clams are large, quickly remove them from the shells, chop them, and add them back to the sauce and toss with the pasta. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

 

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Note: To ensure the clams are fresh and safe to eat, they need to be purchased and kept alive until ready to be cooked. Store them in the refrigerator.

 

About an hour before cooking, soak the clams in a bowl filled with cold water, changing the water a few times. Just before you are ready to cook them, rinse each clam under cold, running water, rubbing the shells to remove any trace of sand. If any clams are cracked, broken, or open, discard them.