Name: Pantry Red Clam Sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil; 4 large cloves minced garlic; 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices; 2 x 8-oz cans tomato sauce; 2 tsp. Italian seasoning; 1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme; 1 tsp crushed red pepper; 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste; 1/2 tsp sugar; 2 cans minced clams; 1 lb. angel hair pasta, cooked al dente

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It pains me to admit it, but I was a culinary Barbarian as a child. I dug the soft doughy centers out of French bread and dinner rolls, leaving the crusts in unsightly piles at the edge of my plate. I only liked lettuce of the iceberg variety, doused with salty Italian dressing. Discovering fruit or nuts in a chocolate dessert was nothing short of tragic. Every time she sprang a new recipe on us at dinner, my mother would have to reassure me, “no, Betsy, it doesn’t have mushrooms in it.”

The decade of age 17 to 27 was my palate’s own Renaissance. Being away from home at college, trying to be a gracious dinner guest at others’ homes, traveling abroad, living with housemates with more worldly tastes—these were all experiences that exponentially expanded my list of desirable foods.

Whenever I would return home to Florida for a visit, my mother and great Aunt Peg would remark on all the new foods I had ‘learned’ to consume in their absence. They were my own personal hype squad.

“I can’t get over OUR Betsy drinking iced tea,” Aunt Peg once said.

She was easy to impress.

The year of my greatest epicurean enlightenment was 1989, which found me living with 3 roommates in a townhouse on Capitol Hill. One woman was a vegetarian. A second was already an ambitious home cook. And all 3 were much more adventurous eaters than I. None of us had much money, so eating out was a rare treat. Each Saturday, we would leaf through the pages of the Moosewood Cookbook, make a list of recipes we wanted to try that week, and then divide and conquer at Eastern Market and Safeway.

That year, I learned to like all kinds of strange foodstuffs ending in vowels. Pesto. Tabouli. Spanakopita. Hummus bi tahini. Exotic vegetables like eggplant and Brussels sprouts.

We soon added the Silver Palate Cookbook to our bookshelf, and we were off and running.

This week’s recipe, pasta with red clam sauce, isn’t from either cookbook, but hails from the same period. My housemate, Erin, served her red clam sauce with linguine, but I like it better with angel hair, which is more easily coated with the luscious tomato-ey goodness. It’s one of my favorite things to make, to this day, because you can stock all the ingredients in your cupboard and whip it together in 20 minutes. It smells amazing while you’re cooking it.

And it contains no mushrooms. I still hate those.

You better believe Aunt Peg was rendered speechless seeing her Betsy eat clams.

RECIPE Details

Servings

6 Servings

Prep time

30 Minutes

Cooking time

20 Minutes

Calories

N/A

Ingredients

3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
4 large cloves minced garlic
28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
2 x 8-oz cans tomato sauce
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cans minced clams
1 lb. angel hair pasta, cooked al dente

I like things spicy so I’ve doubled the crushed red pepper. Cut it in half if you’re a mild child.

Directions

In a large pan, heat olive oil on medium heat and saute minced garlic for about 1 minute, taking care not to burn.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, thyme, crushed red pepper, sugar, and salt to taste.
Bring to simmer then cook for 10 minutes.
Drain minced clams, add and simmer an additional 10 minutes.
Divide pasta among 6 plates, top with scant 2/3 cup sauce each.

RECIPE FOR PRINT