Linguine With Clam Sauce
We have been making this dish for almost as long as we have been cooking. The original recipe came from a little paperback Italian cookbook of unknown origin. It is one of our favorites because it can be thrown together in a few minutes when you don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen but would still like a home-cooked meal. I always have the contents of this recipe on hand – just in case. We have made a few modifications to the original recipe over the years, most recently adding a bottle of capers to the sauce. Thi9s creates an over-the-top gourmet meal with little effort.
Linguine With Clam Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz. cooked linguine
- 1/4 cup EVOO
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- 1 large shallot, finely chopped
- 3 cans of chopped clams, 6.5 oz. per
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- Oregano to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
- ******************
- Splash of white wine (optional)
- Lemon Juice and zest – about 1/4 lemon (optional)
- 1 bottle of capers – 3.5 ounces (optional)
- Caper juice to taste
Instructions
- Get your pasta cooking.
- Saute the garlic, shallot, and jalapeno in the EVOO until the shallot is translucent, add the capers if you are using them, and fry for a minute or so.
- Add the clams with juice and reduce for 4 or 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the wine now if you are using it.
- Add the parsley, oregano, and black pepper. Cook for a minute or two.
- Then add the cooked pasta, cook for a few more minutes until some of the sauce is absorbed.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings, then serve.
Notes
I really think the capers took this recipe over the top, but I haven’t tested it with capers AND wine. A squeeze of lemon juice and lemon zest was probably preferable to the wine when using capers.