I don’t know why people are so uncomfortable making fish and seafood at home. It’s so easy to cook and is generally faster than chicken or beef. Maybe it’s the buying that requires more intention. Fish and seafood grow in water. In the case of shellfish, tender flesh is protected by hard shells. That means a very short application of heat in a bath of flavorful liquid and a few condiments gives you high protein rewards.
I recommend mastering linguine with clam sauce. It’s a classic for a reason. I’m partial to making the dish “in bianco,” meaning a “white” sauce that’s really a transparent sauce of clam juices mixed with white wine, garlic, a bit of red chile, and a squeeze of lemon. I won’t tell anyone if you enrich it with butter. But clams steamed with a couple ounces of tomato sauce is equally great, and depending on your pantry, might be easier to pull off at the last minute. This is a weeknight meal for me because it’s so easy. The most difficult part is picking up really fresh clams.
Childhood spaghetti with clam sauce was made with canned clams and bottled clam juice with no shells in sight. And it was good. When I had my first plate of the stuff in Italy and saw the tangle of pasta topped with clams in the shell, my thought was, “There aren’t enough clams here.” I quickly came to love the presentation and appreciate the flavor of those freshest of clams.
But I’d like to introduce you to my solution to the clam quantity situation, my recipe for Linguine alle Doppio Vongole or Linguine with Double Clams. It was the most requested dish at my restaurant in the Marina, Angeli Mare. Half of the clams are first steamed open and meat removed from the shells. It is then coarsely chopped. All those juices are strained through a fine strainer. Then that broth is used to steam the remainder, which are served whole atop the pasta, which is first tossed with the chopped clams.
Most clams you find in markets these days are farmed and so are fairly clean, but you’ll still want to give them a good scrub. As you go through this step, discard any that are gaping open. They are dead and you DO NOT want to cook any clam that isn’t still alive. If you see a clam that has a small smile, tap on it. It should quickly close tightly. If not, discard. Occasionally a clam feels too heavy for its size. It’s probably filled with mud and should also be discarded. I generally purge my clams to ensure no sand ends up in the dish. To do this, place your scrubbed clams in a bowl and cover with cool but not icy cold water to which you’ve added enough salt to approximate the sea. I start with 1 pound of manilla clams, which is enough for four people if you’re not doubling up. Let them sit for about an hour in the salted water, which gives you time to peel and chop the amount of garlic that makes you happy. I generally use one clove per person.
Take a skillet big enough to accommodate them in one snug layer (if you have a couple doubled up, that’s fine) and drizzle enough good olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the pan. Add half the garlic, and briefly cook it until it turns opaque and releases its aroma. Add a cup of dry white wine and a good pinch of chile flakes and half the clams. Cover the pan and turn the heat on. Steam the clams just until the shells pop open, giving the pan an occasional shake. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or so. Discard any clams that don’t open. Remove the clams from the pan, taking the meat out of the shell. Discard the shells and put the meat in a small bowl. Strain whatever juices have collected in the pan and reserve. When the clam meat is cool enough, chop it coarsely. You can do this part in advance. Just before people come to the table, chop up some parsley. I like it on the coarser side, but go fine if that’s your thing.
Put water on to cook the pasta. Now cook the remaining clams with more olive oil filming the pan, the reserved clam juices, the other half of the chopped garlic, more red chile flakes, and a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley. Remove the whole open clams from the pan and add the chopped clams, gently reheating them. Add a good squeeze of lemon and taste the juices for salt. If you want to enrich the sauce with a tablespoon or so of butter, add it now. Strain the cooked pasta and add it to the skillet with the juices and chopped clams. Toss. Put the pasta in individual serving bowls and top with whole clams.