Linguine With Clam Sauce

Stir in the clams with their juices? No, no, a thousand times no! Add the juices, quickly heat to reduce by about half, remove from the heat and then add the clams.

I've been making a variation of this for 30 years. Absolutely delicious! I snagged my husband with it. Don't bother with the zest (too time consuming), just squeeze half a lemon into the sauce at the end and stir in with the parsley. I also prefer chopped canned clams to whole, and I just mix it all in a big serving bowl when the pasta is cooked.

The juice from the canned clams isn't great. I used jar clam sauce in place of the juice from the canned claims. Don't add the clams with the juice and reduce they will be rubbery and overcooked. I finish cooking my pasta in clam juice. I heat a jar of claim juice in the skillet then add the pasta to finish cooking for the last 4 minutes. The add the clams/olive oil garlic mixture, toss and enjoy. its is devine

Use the Alice Waters' trick for pasta water - drain the pasta into a colander that's set in the pasta serving bowl. You'll retain plenty of water and it'll heat the serving bowl to keep the pasta warm, which can be critical for some pasta dishes.

Or try a recipe given to me by a real Italian grandmother and great cook: Chop one bunch of green onions, mince two cloves of garlic which you saute in two tablespoons, each, of butter and olive oil. Add two can of chopped clams, a splash of white wine and simmer for twenty minutes. Despite its apparent simplicity, it is one of the most satisfying dishes around. This amply dresses one pound of pasta. Her name was Argia Giuntini and a friend of my father's aunt.

When using canned clams I prefer to drain the juice into a measuring cup and pour carefully as there may be grit in the bottom.

Use fresh garlic, as much as you can do! Omit the oregano, use a good white wine and reduce the clam juice before adding clams. Add at least 1/2 stick of butter! Maybe more, depending... And try it with angel hair: add the cooked pasta to the sauce (which you do first), let it sit on very low/no heat and stir til the juices are mostly sopped up by the pasta. It's incredible. Leave the lemon zest out & just squeeze over the pasta (though I just dust with minced parsley & dive in).

Agreed about the cooking of clams. Do not put them in until the very end or you will have fishy rubber bands.

When I make this dish, I add a can of whole baby clams AND a can of chopped clams. It gives more clam flavor to add the chopped clams to the dish. A great quick and easy dinner with a salad and bread.

Frozen fresh clams also stay good in the freezer for ages and the taste difference is exponential!

Purists may balk but I've learned (living in a drought) that pasta cooks just fine in about half the water many cooks use. Boils faster and saves time. (And for a real balk, I've learned that if I'm doing small enough sized pasta I can start it in cold water and that works fine too.)

I've been making this for 50 years, and it's always good. I use a little more garlic, and a little less olive oil, but lemon juice, not zest, is a key ingredient, and should be added last.

If you're in need of speed, boil the water and then salt it. Salted water takes longer to boil.

Don’t forget to add grated parm.

A variation on this has been my emergency go-to dinner for many years, based on Craig Claiborne’s recipe. I use more olive oil for the sauce, and then mix the cooked pasta and sauce in a foil-lined casserole, seal the foil or use a tight cover, and pop it into a preheated, very hot (500) oven for about 5 minutes. This last step—Claiborne’s special touch—makes the sauce permeate the pasta. Deliciouso