Samuel Pepys
Hi there,
When my children were young, family dinners were reserved for Sunday. Between Dom’s schedule as a busy General Practice Doctor and the boys schedule of sports and music, dinner was grab and go during the week.
But on Sundays, we always sat down together. Dom would make an afternoon run to the bakery and buy whatever was left on the shelves and I would try to figure out something that three very different sons could agree upon to eat.
This recipe for spaghetti and clams was one that all agreed upon. I have become a much more accomplished cook than I was back in the seventies. I must confess that back then I made this dish with canned clam sauce touched up with my own seasonings. But now, I make the sauce from scratch and, if I do say so myself, it is very tasty.
Laganella Family Favorite Spaghetti & Clams
Ingredients:
- 1lb container of shucked clams in their liquor
- 1 tablespoon of EVOO
- 1 tablespoon of garlic paste
- 1/4 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes (can be eliminated or adjusted to taste)
- 1 small parmesan rind
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 cup of minced parsley
- 1 cup of white wine, either pinot Grigio or sauvignon blanc
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Drain the clams and reserve the liquor
- In a large shallow pan sauté the onion, garlic, pepper, parsley and parmesan rind until onions are soft
- Add the clams and saute until barley cooked
- Add reserved clam liquor and wine to the pan
- Cook until slightly thickened and flavors have blended approximately 10 to 15 minutes
- While sauce is simmering start a pot of salted water for your spaghetti
- Cook spaghetti until al dente
- Drain spaghetti and add to the sauce pan and cook for another minute or two
- ENJOY!
Special Note: If you are preparing this for company, you can buy some tiny clams and add them to the sauce. When serving put the whole clams on top for a pretty presentation. If your family doesn’t care for hot pepper, just eliminate it. Be careful with the salt in the sauce because you are using a parmesan rind which is salty and inherently not Italian in nature. Most Italians cookbooks ban the use of cheese with seafood. But I think everything tastes better with cheese.
Talk soon, ❤️💕 Bernadette
29 responses to “spaghetti and clams – a laganella family favorite”
ah the irony… hubby doesn’t eat seafood and i am not a fan of pasta … but i’m sure it’s marvellous.
Yummy!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I have been reading your posts but I don’t see a place for comments. Am I missing something?
I am sorry. I post on a site i do not own. It’s like a club. I am busy right now, but if you want to comment i can make you a member. 😀
Hubby is allergic to seafood. But I would make it for me! looks great.
Oh, poor hubby and poor you. It must really limit what you can make for dinner.
Exactly, especially since I don´t eat meat and he is a meat and potatoes guy who doesn´t like vegetables.
Now that is hard. I expect that you eat out every chance you get.
It looks so inviting and I do LOVE seafood since grew up eating mostly seafood. This is a fabulous meal.
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
Ah! One of my favorites, and we all like this in my family too!
I haven’t had anything like this in a while. Yum!
I love shrimp and pasta but I will have to pass on the clams 🙂
I stole the recipe, and as you know I am from New England and will try to faithfully reproduce this for my Hubby and me.
You should have no trouble at all getting the best clams for this dish. Enjoy!
We aren’t living in Maine anymore we are in Phoenix,AZ. Will do the best we can.
Aww you are making me craving for clam pasta! My husband don’t like clams so I’m taking a note as wishlist for my eat-alone-party-dinner!
Everything is better with cheese. I make my spaghetti with little neck class.
Welcome to the Italian Cheese Rebellion.
I smiled when I read about your 3 boys having different tastes, as a mom of 3 also I can certainly relate! My 3 would always eat buttered noodles with Parmesan, so your sweet story brought back lots of memories 🙂 Your dish sounds delicious!
Jenna
That was another favorite in our house too.
This sounds delicious! I have put clams on pizza, and your recipe makes me crave them on pasta! I love the vintage picture of Dom and your boys…so sweet!
[…] week my chosen word was seventh(7th)…Thank you for the added suggestions go out to Bernadette with #7 on the periodic table is Nitrogen…and Clive came up with another tune and very lovely […]
What a great photo! Love this post, and I love this pasta!
I love clams and I love pasta, what a great combination. I remember those days when we raised children. I only had one boy.
Those were crazy busy days, weren’t they? Thanks for stopping by.
What an fabulous recipe! We love clams and I make a white sauce spaghetti clam dish but I will have to try this one. Thank you for your recipe.
You are most welcome and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy making some of your recipes.
Your comment about the cheese made me smile. When we were in Italy with friends at a restaurant, our friend asked for Parmesan cheese for his clam sauce and the waiter refused to serve him any…”no cheese with seafood” he told him.
I know they are so strict😳