Tremendous Linguine with Clams
Prep
10m
Cook
15m
Total
25m
Bigly says
Linguine. LINGUINE! With clams. We are about to make the greatest linguine alle vongole in the history of pasta, and I'm including ITALY in that, the entire Amalfi Coast, every nonna, every restaurant in Naples — the nonnas are tough, the nonnas do not give compliments, the nonnas have been making this for sixty years — but my version, this version, it WINS. It wins. They would weep. The nonnas would weep. In a good way.
Many people don't know this, but the Romans had this. The Romans had this exact dish — different name, same energy, pre-pyramid technology basically, look it up, the food historians do not exaggerate about it — and what the Romans knew, and what most people on the internet have forgotten, is that the sauce for linguine with clams is made from the clams THEMSELVES. The clams release their liquor — that's what it's called, the LIQUOR, beautiful word — into the pan, you hit it with white wine, you mount it with butter, and that's the sauce. No cream. NO CREAM. Cream in linguine with clams is a crime against the bivalve. Turn yourself in to the authorities. There are laws.
And — this is the part that separates this kitchen from every other kitchen on the internet — you finish the pasta IN the sauce. You don't drain it, you don't rinse it (NEVER rinse pasta, NEVER, the people who rinse pasta have lost the plot), you finish it in the pan with a splash of starchy pasta water and the sauce clings to every single noodle like it was MADE for it. Because it was. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 1 lblinguine(bronze-cut if you can find it, the rough texture grips the sauce)
- 3 lblittleneck or Manila clams, scrubbed(scrub them, soak them in cold salted water 20 minutes to purge sand)
- 1/4 cupextra-virgin olive oil
- 8 clovesgarlic, thinly sliced(sliced, not minced, this is not a paste situation)
- 1/2 tspred pepper flakes
- 1 cupdry white wine (Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)(if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it)
- 3 tbspunsalted butter
- 1/3 cupfresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- from 1 lemonlemon zest
- for pasta waterkosher salt
- to tastefreshly cracked black pepper
Steps
- 1
Soak the scrubbed clams in a bowl of cold heavily salted water for 20 minutes to help them purge any sand. Drain and rinse. Discard any clams with broken shells or any that are open and don't close when tapped.
- 2
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil for the pasta.
- 3
Heat the olive oil in a large, wide skillet (with a lid) over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook 1-2 minutes, swirling the pan, until the garlic is fragrant and just turning pale gold — do not brown it.
- 4
Add the white wine and bring to a simmer. Let it reduce for 1 minute to burn off the alcohol edge.
- 5
Add the clams to the pan and cover with the lid. Cook 4-6 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until all the clams have opened. Discard any that remain stubbornly closed.
- 6
Meanwhile, drop the linguine into the boiling water and cook 2 minutes shy of package directions — it will finish in the sauce.
- 7
Use tongs to transfer the linguine directly from the pasta water into the skillet with the clams. Add a 1/2 cup of starchy pasta water along with it.
- 8
Toss everything together over medium heat for 2 minutes, until the pasta finishes cooking and the sauce thickens and emulsifies around the noodles. Add more pasta water by the splash if it looks dry.
- 9
Off the heat, add the butter, chopped parsley, and lemon zest. Toss until the butter melts and coats the pasta glossily. Crack black pepper over the top.
- 10
Divide into wide bowls, making sure each serving gets plenty of clams. Serve immediately with crusty bread on the side.
One more thing
This is restaurant pasta. This is the dish that makes people ask if you went to culinary school, and you can look them dead in the eye and say, 'No. I just read BiglyEats.' And they will respect that. They will respect YOU. Twenty minutes, one pan, one pot, a glass of the leftover wine for the chef which is YOU — that is a beautiful Tuesday night, that is a Tuesday night that other kitchens cannot deliver. The clams do the talking. The clams ALWAYS do the talking. OK? OK.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Tremendous Linguine with Clams.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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