Linguini and clams with Spicy marinara. A pasta dish made with whole baby clams simmered in white wine, lemon and garlic infused with spicy marinara. The spicy marinara takes this pasta dish to the next level. Toss with linguine, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and top with grated Parmesan cheese (Locatelli) and parsley. You will feel like you’ve ended up in Italy for dinner.
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Growing up it was a treat to go out to dinner, especially to an Italian restaurant. For me, it just felt fancy. The red cloth napkins, the lit candle, shiny silverware and a fresh bread basket on the table. The smell of sauce permeated through the restaurant. My go to dish was Linguine and clams with spicy marinara. I absolutely love this dish. Half opened clam shells showcasing their inner beauty nestled in the linguine and sauce. This particular recipe I use canned, whole baby clams. I find it hard to locate baby, manzanilla clams. And quite frankly, using canned baby clams is easier, less expensive and tastes, almost, like the fresh clams.
List of ingredients
- PRODUCE: Lemons, onions, garlic and parsley
- CANNED GOODS: Petite diced tomatoes and Whole baby clams
- Linguini
- White wine
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Crushed red pepper flakes
Making the clam sauce
Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Next add the linguine and cook per package directions. Drain and set aside. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a sauté pan and add in the halved lemon and minced garlic. Sauté for about a minute or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Continue by draining the clams, reserving the liquid, and add in about 3/4 cup of the clam juice to the garlic and olive oil. Add in the clams, salt, pepper, parsley sprigs and wine. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half. Once the liquid is reduced by half I like to take the lemon and squeeze it over the top of the clam mixture and discard it. Set clam sauce aside and let’s start making the spicy marinara.
Spicy talk
Time to get a bit (or ALOT) spicy, shall we? I love spicy foods, I mean, the more spice the better. I grew up with a family that loved everything spicy. Stuffed olives with jalapeño and habaneros. Wings slathered in the hottest sauce offered. In addition to habanero salsas, stuffed jalapeños, grilled jalapeños, you name it. I started using crushed red pepper flakes that you find in the spice isle and continued to elevate the heat to ghost pepper flakes (Sonoran Spice Company)for this spicy marinara. Call me crazy….that’s ok. I’ve been called a lot worse in my days.
So I trust that each one of you know your heat level tolerance, therefore use the amount that you know you can handle. Besides, you want to be able to enjoy this dish without having your mouth on fire, for this reason you determine the amount of heat. My recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (but we go well above that amount in this household!)
Spicy marinara sauce
Heat up the extra virgin olive oil, in a pan, on low. Because you will be adding dried red pepper flakes, the extra virgin olive oil needs not to be super hot otherwise it will burn the pepper flakes. Then add the dried red pepper flakes and let them infuse the extra virgin olive oil, while you chop the garlic and onions.
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Next, toss in your chopped garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute and then add in your chopped onions. Sauté until the onions are tender. Of course you may need to turn up the heat a bit and that’s ok at this point. Pour in the can of petite, diced tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Not only will covering the sauce keep the liquid from evaporation it will also soften the tomatoes.
Combining the clam sauce and spicy marinara
Finally it is time to introduce these 2 sauces together! Furthermore, if after combining the sauces, you want to thin the sauce out, take some of the reserved clam juice and add it to the sauce. Place the pasta in a bowl and top with sauce, a drizzle of olive oil, grated Parmesan cheese and some chopped parsley.
Look it how fancy this dish is! I hope this linguini and clams with a spicy marinara dish transports you to a small town in Italy. Try my Ceaser salad recipe to go with it. Please enjoy. ~Christina
Linguine and clams with spicy marinara
4
servings15
minutes30
minutesWhole baby clams simmered in a white wine, lemon and garlic sauce infused with a spicy marinara. Tossed with linguine and topped with grated Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- CLAM SAUCE
1lb. linguine
2 cans whole baby clams drained, reserving the juice. *SEE NOTE
2 Tblsp. of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 lemon
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of dry, white wine
Salt and Pepper, to taste
A couple of parsley stalks and some chopped parsley
- SPICY RED SAUCE
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion or 1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 small can of CENTO petite diced tomatoes (or your favorite brand)
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes *SEE NOTE
Directions
- CLAM SAUCE
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add linguine and cook per package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Heat the EVOO on low to medium and add in the 1/2 lemon and minced garlic.
- Sauté the garlic for about a minute or until fragrant.
- Pour in about 3/4 cup of reserved juice and let the garlic, lemon, and EVOO simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add both cans of clams, salt and pepper (to taste), parsley stalks and wine. Stir until well combined.
- Simmer, on low, for 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.
- Squeeze the halved lemon over the clams and discard.
- Turn off heat and set aside.
- Add in a large spoonful of the spicy red sauce and continue adding until your desired level of heat has been reached.
- Serve with your cooked linguine. Top each plate(bowl) with grated Parmesan cheese and shopped parsley.
- SPICY RED SAUCE
- Heat up your extra virgin olive oil, in a sauté pan, on low.
- Add in your crushed red pepper flakes. Let them infuse the extra virgin olive oil for about a minute. If the oil is too hot it will burn the pepper flakes. The heat must be at its lowest setting.
- Add in the chopped onions. You will need to turn up the heat a bit so the onions will soften.
- Sauté the onions until they become soft and translucent. About 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the peppers don’t burn.
- Add in the garlic and cook for about a minute or until it becomes fragrant.
- Add in the petite diced tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, cover and turn down the heat.
- Simmer for 10-15 minutes. This will soften the tomatoes.
- Remove from heat and add to clam sauce.
- If you find that your clam sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved clam juice.
Notes
- You can use 1 can of whole baby clams. I happen to LOVE clams so for me, the more the better.
- Crushed red pepper flakes are a great way to start finding what your level of heat is. Of course, you can eliminate the spice all together.
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