Clam Basil Sauce Recipes

LINGUINE WITH CLAMS

Steps:

• In large pot over high heat, bring 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt to a boil. Add the linguine and cook according to the package directions until just shy of al dente (the pasta should still be firm to the bite since it will cook another minute or two in the sauce).
• Meanwhile, in a very large sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until just golden, about 30 seconds. Add the wine, red pepper flakes, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, clams, and ¼ cup of the parsley; bring to a simmer and cook, covered, until the clams open, 6 to 8 minutes. Discard any unopened clams.
• Reserving ½ cup of the cooking water, drain the linguine in a colander (do not rinse). Add the pasta to the sauté pan with the clams. (If you don't have room for everything in one pan, transfer the clams to a plate and cover to keep warm. When ready to serve, add them back to the pasta on a serving platter). Increase the heat to medium and cook the linguini with the clams, tossing occasionally, until the pasta absorbs most of the sauce and is just tender, 1 to 2 minutes. If necessary, add some of reserved cooking water to keep moist. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley; toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, lemon zest and/or lemon juice, if necessary. Transfer to a serving dish or bowls and serve.
• Note: When cooking with wine, select a bottle that is inexpensive (under $10) but still good enough to drink. Avoid "cooking wines," which are salty and include additives.

CLAM PASTA WITH BASIL AND HOT PEPPER

Steps:

• Make the purée: Grind basil and parsley together in a food processor. (Alternatively, hand chop herbs or pound them in a mortar.) Add garlic paste and 1/4 cup olive oil and pulse to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rapid boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions, taking care to keep pasta quite al dente. It's best to use a timer, and drain pasta as soon as it's done.
• While pasta is cooking, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottomed wide pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic, fennel seed if using and pepperoncino, and let sizzle without browning, about 1 minute. Add clams, stirring to coat with a wooden spoon. Raise heat to high, add wine and put on the lid. Cook, covered, until all clams have opened, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off heat. (Discard any clams that fail to open.)
• Add cooked pasta and basil purée to pot and toss gently to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with basil leaves and lemon wedges.

LINGUINE WITH HERBED CLAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Drain baby and minced clams, reserving juice; set clams and juice aside. In a large skillet, saute onion in oil and butter until tender. Add parsley and garlic; saute for 2 minutes. , Add drained clams; saute 2 minutes longer. , Combine cornstarch and clam juice until smooth; stir into skillet with wine or broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the basil, pepper and cayenne. Serve sauce over linguine; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

LINGUINE WITH CLAMS, CHERRY TOMATOES AND BASIL

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large saute pan with a tight-fitting lid over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant; don't let the garlic brown. Add the cherry tomatoes, white wine and clams, increase the heat to high and cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the clams have opened, about 8 minutes. As the clams open, transfer them to a large bowl. When all the clams are removed, reduce the heat to medium-low and swirl in the butter. Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the linguine according to the package direction. Using tongs, transfer the linguine to the saute pan with the clam juice and toss to coat. Turn off the heat and add the clams and any juices that have collected in the bowl, the lemon zest and half of the basil. Using tongs, turn the linguine to coat it with the sauce. Top with the remaining basil. Serve immediately.

THE BEST CLAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add linguini and return water to a boil. Let linguini cook until al dente; drain well.
• In a large skillet, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Drain the cans of minced clams, reserving half of the juice.
• Stir the clams, reserved juice, butter, salt and pepper, and wine. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, until the sauce has reduced 1/3 and has thickened.
• Spoon the clam sauce over the linguini and serve.

CLAM & BASIL SAUCE

Steps:

• Make the purée: Grind basil and parsley together in a food processor. (Alternatively, hand chop herbs or pound them in a mortar.) Add garlic paste and 1/4 cup olive oil and pulse to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 2. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rapid boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions, taking care to keep pasta quite al dente. It's best to use a timer, and drain pasta as soon as it's done. 3. While pasta is cooking, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottomed wide pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic, fennel seed if using and pepperoncino, and let sizzle without browning, about 1 minute. Add clams, stirring to coat with a wooden spoon. Raise heat to high, add wine and put on the lid. Cook, covered, until all clams have opened, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off heat. (Discard any clams that fail to open.) 4. Add cooked pasta and basil purée to pot and toss gently to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with basil leaves and lemon wedges.

LINGUINE WITH TOMATO-BASIL CLAM SAUCE

Steps:

• In a saucepan of boiling water blanch tomatoes, 2 or 3 at a time, 10 seconds and transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water. Peel, seed, and dice tomatoes.
• In a large heavy kettle steam clams in water, covered, over moderately high heat 5 to 10 minutes, checking after 5 minutes and transferring them as they open to a bowl. (Discard any clams that are unopened after 10 minutes.) Remove kettle from heat, reserving liquid.
• In a 6-quart kettle bring 4 quarts salted water to a boil and cook linguine until al dente. Drain linguine in a colander.
• While linguine is cooking, with a small knife remove meat from the largest 24 clams, discarding shells, and in a food processor pulse just until chopped coarse. Into reserved clam liquid stir chopped clams, tomatoes, garlic, oil, and red pepper flakes and simmer 2 minutes. Add linguine, basil, remaining 12 clams in their shells, and any liquid in bowl and toss well with salt and pepper to taste.

SPICY CLAM PASTA WITH BACON, PEAS AND BASIL

Steps:

• Put basil, parsley and garlic in a mortar or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 cup oil. Pound or whiz to obtain a bright green purée.
• Put a pot of water on to boil and make it very salty. (It will boil faster with the lid on.)
• Over medium heat, render bacon in its own fat until browned and crisp but not hard, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off fat but leave a small amount in the pan, just to coat the bottom.
• Increase heat to medium-high, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the clams, serrano chile and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes, stirring and coating clams well. Add peas and warm through, then turn off heat.
• Boil pasta and cook until slightly underdone. Drain pasta and add to pan with clams. Turn heat to medium-high and stir all together. Add a splash of pasta water, if it seems dry. Add basil purée and toss well. Top with bacon and reserved basil leaves. Pass lemon wedges.

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Combine clams with juice, butter, oil, minced garlic, parsley, basil, and pepper in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat until boiling. Serve warm over pasta.

SPAGHETTI WITH RAZOR CLAMS, SEAWEED, AND TOMATO-BASIL SAUCE

Steps:

• To make the sauce, prepare a small ice bath and bring a pot of water to a boil. With a paring knife, remove the core from the tomatoes and lightly score an X on the bottoms. Blanch the tomatoes in a two-step process: add 1 tomato to the boiling water for 10 seconds, then remove and submerge in the ice bath for 10 seconds. Now add this same tomato to the boiling water again, this time for 5 seconds, and then submerge in the ice bath until cold. Drain. Repeat with the remaining 5 tomatoes.
• Once chilled, peel the skins off the tomatoes with a paring knife, then cut the tomatoes into quarters. Use the paring knife to remove and discard the seeds, then chop the tomatoes into small pieces.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the shallot, garlic, and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, or until soft. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and increase the heat to high. Once the liquid starts to boil (the tomatoes will release a lot of water), cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer, until tomato paste is well incorporated, then stir in the sugar, balsamic vinegar, basil, and salt and pepper. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
• To make the spaghetti with razor clams, prepare the clams by cutting the shell with a paring knife. Remove the meat, keeping the pieces as whole as possible. Rinse well in salted water to remove any sand, then wash under cold running water for a few minutes. Cut the clams into 1-inch pieces and refrigerate until ready to use.
• In a bowl, cover the wakame with the hot water and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
• Place a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the spaghetti noodles and cook, following package instructions. Drain well and return the noodles to the pot. Stir in the butter.
• Place a sauté pan over high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the clams and season with the salt and pepper. Cook for 15 seconds, turn over the clams, season again with salt and pepper, and cook for 15 seconds longer. Remove the pan from the heat.
• To serve, divide the noodles among 4 plates and top each with 1/2 cup of the sauce, then the wakame and clams.

RED CLAM SAUCE

Steps:

• In a small skillet, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer., Transfer to a 1-1/2- or 2-qt. slow cooker. Stir in the clams, tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, bay leaf, sugar, basil and thyme., Cover and cook on low until heated through, 3-4 hours. Discard bay leaf. If desired, sprinkle with additional parsley. Serve with linguine. Freeze option: Omit additional parsley. Cool before placing in a freezer container. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months. To use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Place in a large saucepan; heat through, stirring occasionally. Serve with linguine and, if desired, minced parsley.