Monday, April 16, 2012

Spaghetti and Chopped Clams

As much as I always love to use fresh products whenever available some days that can be a challenge depending on the kind of day I am having. There are days where I run out of hours. I had meant to go shopping and just never got to it,  and then there are those days that I had planned to eat out and for some reason it just didn't  happen.
For the reasons mentioned that's why you can always find a can of chopped clams in my pantry.  In a pinch, I can serve up a dish of linguini or spaghetti with clam sauce in under 30 minutes. Rachel Ray would be so proud of me! LOL!


This can is a time saver and will make a quick, easy and delicious dish of pasta.
I drain the can and reserve about 2 cups of the clam juice. Then I rinse the chopped clams.
Chop 4 - 6 cloves of garlic and add them to your pan with 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add two anchovies to the garlic and cook on low heat. I know some of you are turning your noses up at the addition of anchovies. Please try it. They will add such a nice flavor to the dish. You will not taste the anchovie. It just kicks up the flavors a notch.
You don't want the garlic to burn or get any color. This will make the garlic bitter. Cook until the anchovies fall apart and the garlic is tender.
Add the can of chopped clams.
Season the clams with salt, black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Cook the clams in the garlic for about 5 minutes. This doesn't take long!
Add chopped flat leaf parsley ( I chopped a handful and added it) and at this time added a little bit of the clam juice.

It's that simple.
Cook your pasta in salted water. The water has to taste like the sea!
There was a box of spaghetti in the pantry. I cooked it as per instructed on the box less one minute.
Remove the pasta from the cooking liquid.
Remember to reserve one cup of the pasta cooking water.
Add the cooked pasta to the clams and toss making sure all the pasta gets hit with the clam sauce. If you need more liquid add some of the reserved pasta water.
Divide the pasta into individual serving dishes and top with a little fresh parsley.
If you like, you  could also add some grated cheese. I don't do that, but hey if you like it, who am I to tell you that you shouldn't. You won't find the cheese on my table, but you will find extra red pepper flakes!

This is a delicious dish. The only way it could be better would be to have been able to cook with live fresh clams in their shell!
Next time!
Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine


2 comments: