Linguine and Clams

Summer. Beach trips. Creek walks. Linguine and clams.

If the idea of this meal sounds foreign to you now's the time to take the leap into cooking clams for your family. We love this meal and it's actually what my youngest requested for dinner on his birthday! Clams are very mild when it comes to seafood. They're also low on the scale of slimy or chewy. If you don't love oysters or mussels don't rule these out!

While there are a lot of good reasons to love these guys, I also love that they don't require me going outside when it's 93 degrees out! The idea of grilling is most often paired with summer months, but not when it's so hot and humid!

This recipe easily doubles if you're serving more than 4-6 people. I'd definitely recommend doubling the clams because in our house those go fast!

Here's the recipe, a bit adapted over the years. You can find recipes that call for canned clams but in these summer months I like to use fresh.

Cooking tip: Buy your clams close to the date when you're going to cook them. I like to get ours no more than a day before we're going to eat them. Make sure you keep the bag open and when you get home put them in a bowl in your fridge with the bag still open so they can breathe. About 30 minutes before you're going to cook put the clams in a big bowl of water. This helps them spit out any sand. If they don't close up they're dead so you can toss those!

Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine

• 2 tablespoons EVOO

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided

• 6 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 50 littleneck clams, cleaned. (Our bag said the amount not how many pounds)

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• juice of 1 lemon

Recipe

1.  Next, bring a large pot of water to a boil with salt.  Cook the spaghetti 2 minutes less than what the package says, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

2. Heat the oil and 3 tablespoons of butter in a large dutch oven. Cook the garlic and pepper flakes about 2 minutes then add in your drained clams and wine.  Bring to a boil over high heat and then cover and cook, opening occasionally to stir things- 3-4 minutes or until they open- discard any that do not! This process may take. a bit longer, especially if you double the recipe. Make sure you let it boil before placing the lid on!

3.  Next add reserved pasta water and lemon juice and bring that to a simmer for about 3 minutes.  Next whisk in your butter and add in the spaghetti and clams.  Cook for another 2-3 minutes so the pasta soaks up all the clam sauce goodness. Toss in the parsley and serve! 

Here's to clams and seafood and trying new things! I'd love to know if you try out this recipe. Be sure to tag me or #lbsgoodspoon so I can see! Happy cooking!