Today I went to the grocery store and bought fresh clams. I opened the bag and smelled the ocean. “Oggi per pranzo” (today for lunch): linguine and clams!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 lb. clams, rinsed and scrubbed
- 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. linguine
- 1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
Preparation:
In a wide skillet or saucepan combine minced garlic and olive oil. Let it cook until the garlic becomes a yellow color. Be careful to not burn it. Then add parsley, diced cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse and clean the clams. You don’t need to scrub the clams, just make sure to buy clams that have been previously cleaned and scrubbed. Then place them in a large pot, cover and cook until they open up. Do not add any water as the clams will release their own liquid. Remove from the stove and let them cool.
Then with a strainer drain the clams and keep the liquid. Add the liquid to the tomato sauce. Remove the clams from the shells (keep a few clams in their shells to use later to decorate your dish). Bring large pot of water to boil to cook linguine. Add salt when the water is boiling.
In the meantime, add the clams to the tomato sauce. Cook for an additional 5 min careful to not overcook.
Cook linguine in the boiling water. Check the cooking time on the pasta box and cook the linguine only for half the time required. Then drain the pasta and add it to the tomato and clams sauce. Cook everything together until linguine is al dente.
Once linguine is al dente, remove from the stove, add the remaining parsley and serve right away! Place the reserved clams with the shells for decoration on top of the dish.
Buon Appetito!