Friday, January 9, 2009

Linguine alle Vongole

I *heart* pasta with seafood. Any type of pasta with any type of seafood.

My first love & you never forget your first. Linguine alle vongole. We go way back.

Clams are really easy to prepare & if you don't add pasta, this makes a great clam starter - not unlike the one that I'd already bogged about here. Some recipes use tomatoes making it a red clam sauce but I personally prefer not to.

Remember my trip to Geneva way back in August last year, well my friends gave me 10 packets of Prima Taste's Vongole Sauce. I thought Prima only does Asian so I was a little sceptical at first. Besides I've never really needed this to make vongole sauce before. But you know what - I'm already down to 4 packets. I don't know how much they are retailing for so I can't say if they are worth it or not but if you're given free packets by generous friends, by all means use them.

Since it is basically clam juice - I've used it to flavor my fish stew & instead of clams (cos they are really expensive here), used them to cook prawns & squids. The packet suggests using Chinese wine but I wouldn't dream of using anything but white wine.


Linguine alle Vongole

(for 2-3 portions)


2-3 cloves garlic, diced

2 chilli (optional)
500g fresh clams

parsley

linguine

1/2 cup white wine
clam juice (if available)


1. Cook linguine. Drain & set aside


2. Fry garlic & chilli in olive oil until fragrant. Then add clams, white wine, clam juice, salt & pepper. Cover the pan


3. Once the clams open which shouldn't take very long - around 5-10 mins, they are ready. Discard any that aren't opened

4. Toss linguine in the sauce & add chopped parsley before serving

4 comments:

Charlene Teo said...

Happy New Year to you and your family too! I'm also a lover of pasta with seafood, lots of them! Looking forward to see more yummy food pictures from you. :D

Beau Lotus 涟 said...

Love linguine alle vongole too, we eat this almost every week, clams are easy to find in both Spain and Italy so ever since our stay in Spain we've gotten into the habit of preparing and eating this dish.

But true that they are quite expensive in France. When we were living in Paris, I only buy them when they were en promo.

Anonymous said...

Hello Rojak R.

I have been following your blog for some time. I am dropping by to say "Hi" and to thank you for sharing this recipe-Linguine alle vongele. It is one of my favorite pasta dishes. It is light and tasty. I love mine with lots of garlic and parsley. I love your blog and I visit you often. Happy New Year to you and your family!

petite fleur said...

Charlene
I'll try my best

Lotus
Clams never ever go on sale here. Sigh. If only they weren't so expensive, I would be making them more often.

Bananablossom
Thank you for dropping by & leaving a comment. Happy 2009 to you too.