Linguine with White Clam Sauce

Here’s a quick workup of my latest technique. I rarely cook clams without digging them myself or buying them directly from the guy who did. If you can’t be confident in that level of freshness choose something else for dinner. I know that clams can stay alive in the fridge for seven days without an appreciable dip in quality, but I worry that in their transit from shore to store they haven’t always been kept at such cold temperatures. And sitting out on ice on display day after day doesn’t keep them as cold as they should be and hastens their demise. So if you must get it from a fish market, do so in an area where turnover is high.

This is much the same technique used to create the base for a chowder. I have recently spent some time in a Littleneck heaven, making this recipe more than twice a week, so this is designed with those in mind, but many types of clams could work here. If your clams spring more liquid than expected and you end up with more broth than you need for this recipe, save the rest in the freezer for a future chowder.

Ingredients for clam sauce base:

• 5 lbs (or more) littlenecks
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup dry white wine, like Pinot Gris
• peppercorns
• 1 small bunch thyme
• 1 handful of parsley and parsley stems

Ingredients for pasta:

• 1 lb linguine (or other long pasta, just as good)
• 1 shallot
• 3 cloves garlic
• small handful minced parsley
• dash of white wine
• large slap of butter
• a little squeeze of lemon
• (shhh: secret parmiggiano reggiano)

Directions:

Start by prepping your clams. If you’re in a position to flush them in clean seawater, do that 24 hours ahead. Otherwise rinse them thoroughly in cold water one by one and set them aside. Some people say to soak them in cold water for a bit – if you have seawater then yeah it can’t hurt, but otherwise aren’t you just making them drink tap water before you cook them? I think part of what makes clam taste great is all the seawater it’s currently holding in its little body, so you don’t want them to give that up (until they’re in the pot) any more than you want to replace it with anything, let alone tap water. As soon as they’re submerged, the clam will immediately start inviting new water in and expelling the old water, so let’s not replace the seawater they’ve so carefully carried from shore to kitchen with something as crass as tap water.

It occasionally happens that a clam shell packed tightly with mud will masquerade as a clam, and this is a good time to discover it. You can rub the shells between your fingers or tap them on the side of the sink and the imposter should be revealed. Otherwise all that sandy mud will cook into your broth. Your clams may have lived in the mud, or in sand, or among finely broken shells – all of which will contribute to how much sand and grit they are holding, and all of which will be released into the broth. So a mud-clam is sub-optimal, but not to worry, we’ll make sure that no foreign particle finds its way into our finished pasta sauce.

When all the clams are rinsed, place them into a large pot with plenty of room. Rough chop the onion, smash the garlic cloves and remove the skins, then add both on top of the clams. Rinse off the parsley and thyme and add them, along with a sprinkling of peppercorns. Add the white wine. Do not salt – plenty of that to go around already in the clams. Cover the pot and place on high heat.

Depending on their size, and probably a few other factors I’m not aware of, these clams will take anywhere from 6ish minutes to 15ish minutes to cook. They really are steaming open, but it’s ok to check on them occasionally and release the steam that’s doing all the good work. Just don’t do it too much. When the pot has been tooting happily along for about 3-4 mins, take a look at progress – sometimes they’re barely open and sometimes they’re all set. You want these to all be open – try shaking the pot vigorously if only the ones on top seem open, you’ll see the ones below were just being held shut by the weight of their brethren and they’ll suddenly pop apart – and not holding excess seawater, but of course not over cooked either. I find that when a clam releases both adductor muscles from both sides of the shell it’s usually a little past perfect, but when they’re showing a large clear distended belly, they could go for a few minutes more. I like eating them in butter when they’re at the distended belly stage btw – it releases a little burst of warm seawater into your mouth that swirls around with the butter and like a gentle whisper from the essence of the sea. But we’re going to be chopping most of these up so that will only release that little essence onto the cutting board and you want to take it a bit further.

While they’re cooking, put your pasta water on to boil in another large pot, mince the shallot and garlic (ok to mix together) and parsley (keep separate) and set all aside.

When the clams are done, remove them to a bowl with tongs. This part uses a lot of dishes. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer and discard all the solids. You could stop pouring at the very end, leaving a few tablespoons of liquid behind and most of the bigger pieces of grit and sand. Then clean your fine mesh strainer very thoroughly and line it with coffee filters. Set it over a large bowl or 8-cup measuring cup and pour the strained clam broth into it, slowly so you don’t overflow it. Again, stop before the very end so even more grit gets discarded, if any. This should net you about 2-3 cups of liquid, depending on your clams. While it’s straining you can start your sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the shallot and garlic. If you like, add some red pepper flakes. Add some black pepper. When they’re soft but not browned, turn the heat up to high, add a splash of wine and reduce almost all the way, then add the clam broth. Keep the heat turned to high and start reducing it. Add a large slap of butter and reduce, stirring often, at high heat.

While it’s reducing, remove the clam meat from their shells (you can keep some in their shells and serve that way, depending on how you like to present it) and chop them coarsely. Hold with the parsley. When the broth is reduced by about half, add the pasta to the cooking water. Cook it until about 3-4 minutes from being done. At some point, depending on how reduced it is, I like to add a little bit of grated parmiggiano reggiano to the sauce just to make it a bit more cohesive. Fish generally doesn’t support cheese, but in this case it can help hold the sauce together because there aren’t any real thickening agents in here except the butter in emulsion and the starch from the pasta. Just before adding the pasta, add the chopped clams and parsley. Cook while draining the pasta, and don’t forget to reserve a cup or so of pasta water. Add the almost-done pasta to the sauce, a bit at a time – it’s possible you won’t need it all. It should be liquidy when you add it, but you want to cook the pasta in the sauce for a couple minutes and that should finish the pasta and tighten up the sauce. Add pasta water as needed. Add black pepper generously and some salt if needed (it shouldn’t be).

Serve at once, garnishing with reserved whole clams or clams in their shells, and enjoy.