Pasta

Pasta should be kept simple. Its not about the sauce, its about the pasta.

Pasta is a big one of my dad’s passions so he’s got many a strong feels on the matter.

Generally, the way to go with pasta is to boil the pasta (with enough salt that the water tastes like very salty soup) until it’s just about done- SAVE A CUP OF SALTY PASTA WATER. Drain (but do not cool with cold water).

Stir Pasta as soon as you dump it into boiling water to reduce sticking. Stir a hand full of times within the first 30 seconds and you should be good for one minute time frames after that.

Add the pasta to your sauce in the same fry pan. If the pasta seems too dry, add some of the pasta water. Continuously stir until pasta is done.

These are all the ingredients that made it into the pan along with some olive oil: garlic, cilantro, tomato and caned clams (the liquid before the actual clam bits to prevent them from overcooking).



Some people like to add some olive oil to the boiling water when cooking pasta however all this does is prohibit the sauce from sticking to the pasta. Unless someone can make a good case of why someone should waste the olive oil, I say take a pass!


Poor Mans Clam Pasta for four
Cherristone clams are large and cheep!
Place four to five Cherri stone clams in a shallow dish with a couple inches of white wine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. As soon as a clam opens even a bit, remove from pan and let cool. Once all the clams are removed, use a mesh strainer to remove sand, (or just be gentile when and poor into a separate bowl). Place aside.

Saute thinly sliced garlic, onion, oregano (rubbed into the pan with your hands to infuse flavor), red pepper flakes, largely chopped tomato (ideally- plum tomatoes: with seeds and middle part removed). Add clam and wine liquid, mix. Add your almost finished pasta and cook with sauce until your desired consistence.

Use the liquid as the sauce with garlic, plum tomatoes, cilantro and slivers of the clams.