Garlicky clam pasta (15 minute meal)
My dad was telling me a story recently about his college buddy, who would always cook a garlicky clam pasta whenever my dad would visit him. He was reminiscing about how tasty yet simple it was, and also budget-friendly! He then looks at me and goes, “oh! you should make this for instagram, your community will love it”. And I can see why he thinks this, it’s delicious yet comes together easily with a load of garlic, a tin of clams, some celery, and butter!
If you do try this, let me know if my dad was right!
What kind of canned clams should I use?
I used whole ocean clams that I grabbed from whole foods (the only kind I found!) but I think that tinned baby clams would work even better here. If you’ve ever been to Golden Boy Pizza in SF, this pasta reminds me of their clam + garlic pizza!
I used (for 2):
- 2 servings of spaghetti
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 6.5 oz tin of clams, chopped (I think tinned baby clams would be even better!)
- pat of butter
- chili flakes
- lemon juice
- parsley
To make garlicky clam pasta:
- cook pasta per package instructions, reserving 2 tbsp of pasta water
- in a pan, heat up olive oil over medium heat
- add in garlic and saute until fragrant ~1 minute
- then add in celery and chili flakes and saute for another 2 minutes, seasoning with salt
- add in clam juice from the tin of clams and add 2 tbsp pasta water and simmer for 5 mninutes
- toss in clams and stir, then toss in the spaghetti and let simmer until sauce is well-coated
- finish off with a pat of butter, squeeze of lemon juice, and parsley
- enjoy your garlicky clam pasta!