Brielle's Avalon

Always keep a couple of cans of minced clams in the pantry just in case… Just in case of what you may ask? Someone shows up unexpectedly that you’d like to impress (boss, client, mother-in-law) Or you want something quick to throw together after work, or you’ve been having a nice afternoon with friends (old or new) and you want to whip things together without losing track of the conversation.

I have impressed my husband’s boss and his wife with this (boy, that was once-upon-a-time!) and regretfully I never made it for my mother in law (I do like her) but it was a favourite quick dinner for after work when stock in the fridge was low or on weekends when we wanted something quick to have with friends or just in front of a movie before we popped the corn. One still wants a ‘real’ dinner, don’t ‘cha know.

Tonight this is making a hearty dinner for 2, but with salads and bread can be stretched easily to 3 or 4 and with appetizers, cheese board (for conversation before dinner while you toss this together) and a salad with bread or even soup it can manage a nice nosh for 6 to 8. It doesn’t do well frozen for tomorrow’s work lunch (it’s still good, just dry-ish) so it’s best eaten fresh off the stove. My kids and grandkids love this, so don’t think you have to make something separate for the kidling set. Raise them with good food, teach them to cook and they and the world will be the better for it.

You’ll need: Garlic, 2 cans of minced clams, vermouth or dry white wine, half and half, linguini. pepper and parmesan cheese. Make a salad before you start and butter the bread so all you have to do is add some garlic and put it under the broiler as you finish the sauce.

Peel a bunch of garlic. When you think you’ve got too much peel a couple more. 6 or 8 is a good start. Also, open the cans of minced clams now, leaving the lids in place. You’ll want them ready to go when the garlic is ready.

If you don’t have fresh garlic you can use minced garlic from a jar you keep in the fridge. A couple heaping spoonfulls should do it.

Heat a pan, pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and add the garlic. You can use a garlic press to squish them into the pan (what I usually do) or you can slice or mince the garlic cloves with a knife, which is what I did this time.

On a whim I bought a jar of black garlic, so I decided to try some this time. Looks weird, tastes wonderful.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for your pasta. traditionally you’d use linguini, but you can get away with anything if it’s just you or the family for dinner.

When the garlic starts to brown pour in the clam juice from the cans. Use the lids to hold the clams in place while pouring off the juice over the garlic.

Let the clam juice simmer down until you can leave a trail through it with a spoon.

When the pot of water boils, add the pasta.

Then add about 1/2 c vermouth or dry white wine, more or less.

If you don’t drink, use vermouth and just save the rest of the bottle for cooking, since it kind of lasts forever in the cabinet. If you do drink, use the nice white wine you’ll have with dinner. If you only have red wine that’ll work, but it’ll make your clam sauce purple. Yes, I speak from experience and yes, it’s fine and fun to eat anyway.

Reduce this down in the skillet til your spoon leaves a trail, like with the clam juice. If the pasta needs more cooking before the sauce is ready you can add a dash more wine or vermouth at this point to stretch the cooking time.

Add the clams and about 1/4 c or so of half and half. At this point you don’t need to reduce anything, just bring the clams and stuff up to temperature.

If you don’t have half and half you can use cream and milk or just milk. This time our cream was off so I mixed some sour cream in a bowl with milk. It worked just fine.

When the pasta is ready drain it and put it either back in the pot or into a bowl. Add the sauce and pepper to taste as well as a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Yes, I do add a lot of pepper. It’s yummy, especially if you have freshly ground pepper. I used to use Sarawak pepper but haven’t been able to find it for a while.

Serve with salad, garlic toast and a nice wine. you can garnish with green onions or parsley if you like as well.