Linguine and clam sauce is a quick simple way to make a restaurant-quality dish. A dry white wine garlicky broth meets up with briny clams to create a fast and delicious meal. Topped with a bright lemony garlic breadcrumb topping make this recipe feel extra fancy.
Simple as Opening Up Your Pantry
The ease of this recipe is based on the use of canned clams. I realize that many may balk at the idea of canned clams. While I love using fresh clams, I find the tinned variety just as good. If not better. Using fresh clams alone can make the dish more complicated than it needs to be. Precooking prep can be a bit arduous, as well as requiring a large number of clams to equal the meat in the canned version. Obviously, using fresh clams make for an elegant presentation and can be added to this recipe, completely as an optional addition. If you choose to add them use 3 to 4 clams in shell per person.
For more on the preparation of fresh clams, this is an excellent article: How to Clean Clams. For our recipe, we use 2 cans of chopped clams and one can of whole clams to give the pasta a textural delicious difference.
We also use anchovy paste instead of whole anchovies. The paste is easier to store and gives the same salty umami to amp up the flavor of the sauce. The remaining ingredients are relatively straight-forward.
The Tasty Surprise to Make Your Linguine and Clam Sauce Special.
Freshly toasted breadcrumbs uplift the linguine and clam sauce to another level. They not only add a textural surprise of ‘crunch’ to the pasta but also amplify and reinforce the flavors of the simple sauce. Pan toasted with garlic, lemon zest as well as olive oil. The bread acts as a sponge soaking up and intensifying the essence of the ingredients while becoming golden brown and crisp. Without a doubt, this is an essential step to making this recipe shine.
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Linguine with Clam Sauce
Essential Items
Ingredients
For the Breadcrumbs
- 4 oz baguette (or sourdough) bread approx. ½ loaf.
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp lemon zest
For Linguine and Clam Sauce
- 1 lbs. linguine
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 4-5 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp anchovy paste or 2 fillets canned anchovies
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 13 oz. chopped canned clams 2 cans
- 10 oz. canned whole baby clams 1 can
- 1 cup white wine
- ¾ cup clam juice from reserved canned clams
- ½ cup flat leaf parsley finely chopped
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter cubed small (approx. ¼" cube)
Instructions
For the Breadcrumb Topping
- Cube the bread and peel the garlic, add both to a food processor or mini food chopper. Pulse and process until garlic and bread form a uniform medium crumb.
- In a large saute pan heat oil and add crumb, shaking constantly until oil is absorbed and breadcrumbs are a deep golden brown.
- Remove from heat. add the finely grated lemon zest and mix well to incorporate. Set aside.
For the Linguine and Clam Sauce.
- In a large pasta pot, bring salted water to a boil
- While water is heating up, add oil to a large high-sided skillet over medium-low heat add garlic and saute until garlic starts to show color (2 minutes). Add the anchovy paste and red peppers. continue to saute until garlic is golden brown and anchovy paste has dissolved. (3 minutes) Add the clam, reserved clam juice, and wine. Stir reduce heat to low and allow sauce to slightly reduce. (approx. 5 minutes.)
- Add linguine to the boiling water, cook until slightly under-cooked (about 7 minutes). Drain linguine, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Add the linguine to the saute pan with the sauce add the butter and and toss until pasta is al dente and most of the sauce is asbsoed. If pasta is too dry add a bit of the reserved pasta water.
- Transfer to individual bowls and top with parsley and breadcrumb topping. Serve while hot.
