Linguine and White Clam Sauce

Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 min
Total Cook Time: 15 min

I used to go crazy for this stuff when I was younger. A little Italian restaurant in the Bronx not too far from where I grew up will always make what I consider to be the benchmark version of this dish. That dish relied on lots of fresh clams and bottled clam juice and tons of garlic. I don’t make a habit out of keeping fresh clams in the house, but I do usually have a few cans of chopped clams lying around for just this very purpose…sacrilege I know, but I’m over it (besides, my version of this dish is a bit more rounded…less garlicky and oily…then the original). Feel free to substitute half a bottle of clam juice and however many fresh clams you like for the 2 cans of chopped clams.

Here’s what I use for the sauce:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion – roughly chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 garlic cloves – roughly chopped
1/3 cup of any dry white wine
the juice from 1 lemon
2 6.5oz cans chopped clams – do not drain the clams
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley
1 generous tbsp unsalted butter
salt and white pepper to taste

Have a pot of salted, boiling water ready to go by the time you start to make the sauce. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil, then add the onions and 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and saute for about 10 min, stirring frequently so that they don’t turn brown. You’ll want to add the linguine to the boiling water after about the 8 min mark during the onion cooking process. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.

Add the white wine, lemon juice, oregano, clams and the juices that the clams are packed in to the pan, turn the heat up to medium high, and cook together for about 5-7 minutes (you want the sauce to bubble vigorously, but not for too long, so reduce the heat a bit once it does that. It’s also ok if some of the sauce reduces away, but if you notice it cooking too fast, turn the heat down). After 5-7 min, turn the heat down to low and add in the parsley and butter. Once the butter has melted into the sauce, add in a pinch of white pepper and any additional salt to taste. Toss in the linguine you just boiled and serve immediately.