There’s a fine line, my friend Paul likes to say, between a groove and a rut. I find that’s as true in cooking as in anything else. There are nights when we invite friends over, nibble on tasty treats while the toddler careens around the house, then sit down to a lovingly planned meal that lasts a couple of hours and a couple of bottles of wine. And then there are nights when I just need to get dinner on the table so we don’t go hungry. On those nights all I want is something I can make without thinking too hard about it. Still, even when I’m exhausted I want something tasty for dinner, so it helps to have a couple of meals in your pocket that are quick, easy, and delicious. Pasta with clams, anyone?
The trick is to use fresh clams and to eke out every bit of clammy flavor possible. I use a dozen and a half live small (“littleneck”-sized) hard-shelled clams for a pound of dried linguine. I soak and scrub the clams, put them in a wide skillet over medium-high heat, then cover the pan with a lid at about the same time as I fire up the pasta water. After a few minutes the clams should start opening up; if they don’t I might splash in a little white wine so the steam helps them along. I peek every minute or so and take out the open ones. The liquid they give off is almost the best part, so I keep the heat low enough that it doesn’t all evaporate. I take the clams out of the shells when they’re cool, rinse them in the clam water, then cut them into pieces and cover them with a drizzle of olive oil. Next I carefully strain the clam water through a paper towel and set it aside.
By now the water’s starting to boil, so I drop in the pasta. I wipe out the skillet, slick it with oil again, and sauté four or five cloves of garlic sliced thin, along with a big pinch or two of red chili flakes. After a minute or two I add a diced, perfectly fresh tomato and a small handful of fresh-chopped parsley. When these start to break down I pour in a couple more glugs of wine, bring that to a boil, and turn off the heat.
When the pasta’s just a few minutes from being cooked I drain it and plop it right in the pan with the sauce. Then I pour in the precious clam water over the pasta and heat the skillet again, sloshing the pasta around in the sauce from time to time. The pasta absorbs the clam water as it finishes cooking, making every bite as flavorful as the next. I add the clams when the pasta’s done cooking, of course, but they’re almost superfluous.
I make this dish all year round, even in months that don’t have an “r” in their name, though in winter I use a canned tomato or just skip it. I’ve probably cooked this dish ten times in the last year, and when I make a dish I’ve made a so often I sometimes worry that I’m not being imaginative enough. I’ve found that a plate of this pasta is the best cure for that anxiety.
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