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Bucatini + clams with loads of sauce is one of my favorite dinners to cook my family, because it contains simple ingredients, is so easy to make, beyond delicious, plus my family loves it. Many linguini and clam recipes do not conceive enough sauce, finding the pasta absorbs the sauce like a dry sponge. Such a shame, since the sauce is the best part, especially when tossed with a fantastic pasta, such as Bucatini, a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center.

For my Bucatini + clams, I love the addition of chopped clams. In this recipe, I did use good quality canned chopped clams, but sometimes, I for-go the canned calms, using all live clams instead. Either way, it is just as delicious.

One of my daughters cannot eat butter, so I do not add butter when cooking for her. However, I do love the butter in this dish, so adding butter is up to you.

Not that this has anything to do with Bucatini + clams, but I’m off to go meet my Mother and Sister for an afternoon tea at Chado Tea Room. My Sister and I take our Mom to tea every Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I was too late in making reservations at one of the fancy hotels we normally prefer to go, so I ended up getting reservations at Chado Tea Room. I’m hoping we end up loving this place. Anyway, I will let you know how we liked it in my next blog post. Maybe I will be inspired and will end up posting a tea sandwich or desert from this afternoon’s tea.

bucatini + clams with loads of sauce

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Author: Adoring Kitchen
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients

Scale

12 oz. dried bucatini
1 pound live clams – or 2 pounds if not using canned clams
4 cans chopped clams – or 1 bottle clam juice if not using canned clams
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
1/2 yellow onion (finely diced)
1 shallot (finely diced)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt to taste

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Instructions

Place all the clams in a bowl and fill it with cool tap water.
Let the clams sit for 20 minutes to an hour. During this time, they will spit out the sand from inside their shells. Drain.
In a large cooking pan, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the onions and shallots and cook until softened, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes, cook 1 minute. Stir in white wine and allow to simmer for approximately 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt; add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, cooking until as directed on package. Drain and set aside.
Returning to the pan with cooking liquid, add the chopped clams if using, including the liquid or clam juice, lemon juice, parsley and live clams. Cover and steam until the shells open, roughly 5 to 6 minutes. Discard any that refuse to open. Add salt to taste.
Add drained pasta to sauce in skillet and toss vigorously with tongs to coat.