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Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce

Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce

Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce

Like so many great Italian dishes, the beauty of this meal is in its simplicity – which also means that the raw ingredients have to be quality.
By Carrie King

Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce

About once a month, a hankering for spaghetti with white clam sauce sneaks up from behind, taps me on the shoulder and tells me to pull up a chair at the nearest Italian restaurant so I can order a big, steaming bowl. The most memorable of these sneak-attacks was after my mother and I had seen a movie starring Bill Crystal and Robert DeNiro in which DeNiro, surprise surprise, portrays an Italian mob boss. The movie was rather forgettable – but the scene that starred a mountain of spaghetti with white clam sauce clearly stayed with us because right after exiting the theater we went on a mission for that sauce. Many miles and a few restaurants later, we silently scraped clams and twirled our forks around mouthfuls of spaghetti.

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Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce


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  • Author: Carrie King
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x

Description

Like so many great Italian dishes, the beauty of this meal is in its simplicity – which also means that the raw ingredients have to be quality.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 dozen littleneck clams (89 per person), cleaned
  • 5 large garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp minced chili OR red chili flakes
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup pasta water
  • 1 lb spaghetti or linguine
  • Salt and black pepper

Instructions

  1. In a large pot of boiling water, drop your spaghetti or linguine to cook until al dente.
  2. In a skillet wide enough to fit the clams almost in a single layer, add the olive oil, garlic and chili. Sauté over medium low heat for a few minutes, until the garlic starts to turn golden brown and becomes fragrant.
  3. Turn the heat up a touch and add the white wine, then the clams and half of the chopped parsley.
  4. Immediately cover the clams with a tightly fitting lid. Let the clams steam for roughly 8-10 minutes, this depends on the size of your clams, how jam-packed the skillet is, etc.
  5. After 8 minutes, remove the lid and with a slotted spoon or tongs, remove any clams that have opened – set them in a bowl to the side. Keep the lid on for a few more minutes to continue cooking any clams still unopened.
  6. Add 1/4 cup of starchy pasta water to the skillet with the clam sauce and the remaining chopped parsley. Taste and season with a bit of black pepper and salt if needed.
  7. Drain the pasta and drop it directly into the clam sauce, tossing a couple of times to coat the pasta in sauce. Transfer the cooked clams, shells and all, back into the pasta and sauce and serve.
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
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