Linguine with clam sauce a sweet, garlicky dish

RECIPE

Pasta with clam sauce is a delicious entree that’s also easy to prepare at home. While the pasta cooks, all you have to do is make the sauce with just a handful of ingredients. GRETCHEN MCKAY — PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS

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By Gretchen McKay

(TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Linguine with clam sauce is one of those classic Italian dishes that every home chef should have in regular rotation. Not only is it super easy to make with fairly simple ingredients, but it’s incredibly light and flavorful for a pasta dish. And rather than tasting fishy, it’s sweet and garlicky, with plenty of chopped parsley adding a fresh, earthy touch.

My husband had been clamoring for me to make it for weeks, after seeing a video of an Italian chef whipping it up on Instagram. It’s the one seafood he can safely eat, and after watching him pull up and repair a section of kitchen floor that had been ruined by a leaky dishwasher, I had to agree he deserved the treat of homemade pasta with his choice of topping.

All in all, it took about 10 minutes, if you don’t count the time spent scrubbing the clams with a brush under cold water or the 15 minutes or so it took to run fresh pasta dough through my pasta maker.

You can find live hardshell littleneck clams — a super sweet and tender variety — in many larger groceries and in seafood markets. That can of chopped canned clams tucked on a shelf, forgotten, in your pantry makes a fine substitute for fresh in a pinch (not to mention cheaper).

Linguine with Clam Sauce

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup dry white wine

Splash of fresh orange juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish

2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed, rinsed and drained

1 pound fresh or boxed linguine, or any long pasta you prefer

DIRECTIONS

Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic and stir for a minute or two, until it is sizzling and fragrant (but be careful not to burn it). Sprinkle in red pepper flakes, then add wine and a good splash or two of orange juice, and bring to a boil.

Add parsley, then dump in the clams and gently shake the pan so they spread out evenly across the bottom. Give it a gentle stir, then place lid on top, and adjust the heat so the liquid stays at an even simmer.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Add pasta and cook until it is al dente, usually between 1 and 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pasta, if it is fresh; 10 minutes, if it is dried.

Cook clams just until the shells open, about 5 minutes; larger shells might take a minute or two longer. Discard any clams that don’t open. If desired, remove half the clams to a bowl, remove the meat from the shell and finely chop with a sharp knife. You also can serve the clams right from the pan onto the pasta.

When pasta is cooked, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon or tongs into a large bowl. Pour clams and sauce on top and add chopped clam meat, if using. Toss gently to combine until all the strands are nicely coated with sauce. (Or drop the pasta right into the saucepan and toss well to combine.)

Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.