Linguine with White Clam Sauce
Linguine with White Clam Sauce: an easy pasta dish with tender clams and garlicky white wine sauce
Linguine with White Clam Sauce: an easy pasta dish with tender clams and garlicky white wine sauce
- Carbohydrate 0.65615 g
- Cholesterol 0.1133980924 mg
- Fat 0.782508455133468 g
- Fiber 0.06817999792099 g
- Protein 0.395521688824 g
- Saturated Fat 0.11902501279717 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (16g)
- Sodium 716.088002414406 mg
- Sugar 0.58797000207901 g
- Trans Fat 0.0492631555370388 g
- Calories 11 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large pot with boiling salted water cook linguini pasta until al dente.
- Meanwhile, in a medium sized saucepan using medium heat cook olive oil and minced garlic until garlic is translucent. Add chopped clams, clam juice or water, and chopped parsley. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Toss pasta with clam sauce. Serve warm.
Boiling the pasta water requires aggressively salting the pot until it tastes like seawater because starch alone cannot season dense semolina noodles. Too many home cooks dump canned seafood into scorching oil, burning the garlic instantly and rendering the entire pan bitter. Originating from the coastal kitchens of Campania, Italian-American adaptations of this dish streamlined fresh bivalves into shelf-stable canned varieties without sacrificing salinity. Preserving the integrity of the mollusks and the aromatics demands strict attention to thermal control throughout the quick reduction phase.
- Mince three cloves of garlic uniformly, ensuring pieces measure roughly two millimeters so they brown evenly without scorching in the olive oil.
- Keep the saucepan at medium heat, watching closely until the minced garlic turns translucent rather than deep brown; burnt garlic introduces harsh acrid compounds into the delicate clam broth.
- Cook the linguine package in a large pot of boiling water for approximately nine to eleven minutes, checking frequently to pull the strands at the al dente stage while a firm core remains inside.
- Reserve one-quarter cup of the starchy pasta water before draining the noodles, allowing the starches to emulsify with the oil and clam juice later.
- Simmer the combined canned clams, extracted juices, and fresh parsley for exactly three minutes to warm the protein gently without toughening the delicate meat into rubbery fragments.
Coordinating the boiling pot with the skillet prevents the noodles from sitting idle and clumping together before the sauce finishes. Proper emulsification relies entirely on adding hot pasta directly into the warm skillet with a splash of reserved cooking liquid.
