White calamari or clam sauce for pasta

In this case, "white" refers to the idea that the sauce doesn't have tomatoes.

Does anyone have a good recipe for a sauce of white wine, olive oil, probably garlic and herbs and something like chopped clams or chopped calamari?

I bet it's so easy that I could do it in a couple of tries, but I'd like to start with someone else's tries and successes!

1/4 cup pure olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cup clam juice
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups minced clams (fresh or canned)
1 doz. fresh clams

In frying pan brown garlic in oil for one minute over moderate heat. Add clam juice and bring to boil. Add parsley, salt, pepper, clams and heat through.

Thanks, I think that'll get me going.

buy alive clams with shells and use those. they will release some very tasty juice in the sauce. Use linguini ...

Francesco

Hi John,

I think you have gotten some great suggestions so far. I make a white clam sauce similar to Cynthia's but maybe a bit less traditional. Instead of all olive oil, I use half butter and I also substitute most of the clam juice with white wine.

I like my clam sauce very dry too (not too much broth in the pasta), so I tend to reduce the sauce down quite a bit before adding the clams. I'll also undercook my pasta by a minute, toss it with the sauce, and let it cook a little with the sauce.

And ITA with Francesco about fresh clams...they make such a difference.

GL and let us know how it turns out!

Linguini's the classic, of course. Rotini works well, too.

I was figuring, actually, on using calamari, which I can get fresh from Monterey Bay. And I'd already figured on a goodish dump of white wine.

I do the toss the sauce with the pasta bit myself.

I'll be back in a few days.

I haven't tried a calamari sauce, but I bet it will be just delicious. I look forward to hearing how it went!

I sawed Cynthia's recipe in half, and I used half Pouilly-Fuisse and half clam juice, and half a pound of calamari instead of clams. (Pouilly-Fuisse because it was open and I didn't have an Italian white handy.)

It came out pretty well for a first effort.

I sliced the calamari tubes into about 1" pieces and cut a couple of the large tentacle clusters in half. I reheated with the calamari and Italian parsley for no more than a minute, just until the calamari turned opaque.

Tossed with some fresh linguini.

It worked well, nice and tender, and good color. The sauce had good texture.

Next time I'll make a few changes, of course! The recipe was a little mild in flavor for my elderly tongue. I think I'll saute a couple of tablespoons of minced red onion with the garlic, and I'll probably use oregano instead of Italian parsley. Or maybe a mix. They grow in the back yard.

THanks John for the report back. Sounds like it came out pretty good! How was the texture of the calamari? If I replaced the clams with squid, I think I would have a hard time not over cooking the calamari...I never seem to get it right.

What kind of pasta did you use? I'd be interested in hearing how the recipe comes out next time you do it. I know an Italian restaurant that uses majoram in the sauce.

It's terribly easy to overcook the calamari. I had the sauce boiling furiously when I added the calamari, and the linguini drained and waiting. As the calamari started to turn opaque, I added the linguini and tossed the mixture around, then plated it.

Not more than 90 seconds from adding the calamari to serving up -- and much like an omelet, the calamari cooks just a bit more on the way to the table.

Another hint - I look at the tentacles. When they start to look plump and like tentacles instead of little red stringy bits, it's time to add the linguini (or other pasta - angel hair makes an interesting picture, especially for a starter course).