CLAM SAUCE, WHITE
White Clam Sauce
Serves Two as main course
Serves Four as appetizers
8oz linguini or spaghetti
large frying pan
24 little neck clams
Using 1 cup of water and white wine combined, steam the clams open, removing the clams individually from the broth as they open.
Allow to cool and then pull the clams, discarding the shells.
Cut the clams in half or in quarters, moisten them with a bit of the clam broth and reserve.
Reserve the cup of the steaming broth. If there isn’t a full cup remaining, add pasta water to supplement the broth. We are going to use this to finish cooking the pasta.
In a LARGE frying pan (large because we are going to take it out of the boiling water and finish cooking the pasta in this pan):
Add 8 TB olive oil (EVOO)
5 medium garlic cloves, thinly-sliced
2 medium scallions, thinly-sliced
1 oz celery stick, sliced thinly
Soften these aromatics in the EVOO.
Add the reserved clams and the reserved broth to stop the frying.
Add ½ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley or basil
1t freshly-ground pepper
PASTA
Boil pasta to al dentissimo, bendable but obviously still too firm to eat. Do not overcook the pasta.
Strain the pasta and then add it to the large frying pan with the clams, oil, and clam broth.
Finish the cook, allowing the pasta to absorb most or all of the clam broth.
Note: Italians do not use grated cheese on fish sauces.