Linguine with Clam Sauce

By LaLaCooks

Ingredients

• * At least 40 littleneck clams, the smaller the better, or at least 3 pounds of cockles
• * ½ cup dry white wine, plus little more if necessary
• * Pinch of cayenne
• * ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 * 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 * 1 large or 2 small plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and minced (optional)
• 1 * 1 pound long pasta, such as linguine or spaghetti
• * ½ teaspoon minced fresh tarragon, or 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil or chervil
• * ¾ cup roughly chopped parsley

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1 Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2 Wash the clams well, scrubbing them with a soft brush if necessary. Place them in a broad saucepan or skillet with a cover, along with the wine and cayenne. Cover and turn the heat to high. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally. After 3 minutes, check the clams to see if any have opened. As soon as the majority of littlenecks or cockles are open, remove them; don’t worry if many are still closed. Transfer the clams to a bowl. Pass the juice through a sieve lined with cheesecloth to remove all traces of sand.

3 Combine the olive oil and minced garlic in a broad, deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the garlic starts to sizzle, salt the water and begin cooking the pasta; you will want it to be quite firm when it’s done. Turn the heat under the garlic to low and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, just until the garlic begins to color, about 5 minutes.

4 Measure the clam juice; if it is less than a cup, add the tomatoes, or as much wine as you would need to make a cup of juice to the garlic in the skillet (do not add the clam juice yet). You can add the tomatoes if you like in any case, but do not add additional wine if you have a cup of clam juice. Raise the heat to high and let the mixture bubble for about 2 minutes; stir in the tarragon.

5 Stir in the clams and cover; cook over high heat until almost all of the clams open, another minute or two. (Don’t worry if some of the clams never open, as often happens with little necks: just open them with a paring or similar knife.) Drain the pasta and toss it into the skillet with the garlic; add the reserved clam juice and cook for 30 seconds, or until the pasta is tender but still firm and the sauce is a pleasing consistency. Stir in the parsley and serve.

Clams with Pesto and Pasta: Prepare the clams as instructed above. In Step 5, when the clams begin to open, uncover and stir in 1 cup Basic Pesto . Continue as above.