Linguine With Fresh Clam Sauce

As I have noted in previous blogs, we eat a lot of pasta, we love it and make it so many ways.  The hubby and the kids enjoy Linguine and Clams, I am not a fan of clams, but I thought I could just eat the sauce and the pasta.  It's funny, I used to eat them when I was little, steamed and dipped in butter and thought they were so good, now I don't like the taste of them.  I bought a bag of fresh clams at Wegman's on Sunday and made my version of Linguine With Clam Sauce for the family.  This is how I made it -

The Clams - Cleaned and getting ready to be steamed.

One of my favorite store bought pastas.

Some white wine, lemon, lemon zest, garlic, fresh parsley, salt, pepper and butter.

Mixing up the good stuff!

Add more good flavor.

And the clammies!

Look at that sauce.....uumm uumm good!

Toss it all together and you have heaven in a bowl!

Don't forget the crusty bread, you don't want to leave any of the juice.

I served my pasta with a Greek salad made up of field greens, sliced tomato, feta cheese and Greek salad dressing.  A little wine for the cook, a white Merlot, very tasty.  Dinner was fabulous and this will definitely be on my pasta night dinner menu, coming up in June.  Buon Appetito!

Oh, and do not forget dessert.  What a better way to top off a great meal than Tiramisu Gelato, so good.

Linguine With Fresh Clams

Ingredients

1 box Barilla linguine

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

4 big cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine, I use Pinot Gregio

50 littleneck clams, scrubbed

1/4 cup Italian parsley,chopped

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 lemon
Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

Directions

Start a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.  When it boils, add the pasta and cook to your liking. In another large steamer pot with a basket, fill 1/4 of the way with water.  Wash the dirt off the clams, then spread them out in the basket of the steamer pot.  Steam the clams on medium high heat until they open.  While the pasta and clams get going, in a heavy skillet on medium heat, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan.  Add the pepper flakes and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes, be careful not to burn the garlic. Take pan off the burner, reduce heat to simmer, add the wine, return pan to the burner. When clams are steamed, remove about 40 of the clams from their shells (reserve 10 for garnishing the pasta) and chop them up (discard any unopened shells) add to the garlic wine sauce, cover and simmer for 5 -7 minutes.  Mix together the parsley, oregano, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a bowl, set aside.  Drain the pasta, pour back into the pan and toss with the clam mixture, 2 small ladles of clam juice (from the steam pot, skim it off the top), the butter, parsley mixture and juice of a whole lemon.  Toss until the butter melts.  Serve in a large bowl and lay the reserved clams on top, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve with grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese .  Makes 6 servings.