I’ve been craving clams for months. Every recipe I came across in every cookbook would slay me. I’d linger on pictures of clams and stare wistfully at them at the fish monger. But I never bought them for no clear reason than I can.

K gave me back my copy of Heat and I was re-reading it the other day while doing my laundry. There is a section in there where the author comes to an epiphany about clams in the linguine that goes against what he has learned already (that the pasta is about the noodles, not about the sauce) EXCEPT for this case where it is all about the sauce and not at all about the dinky little scrap of meat in the clam. Mind you, this dinky little scrap is delicious. There are some rough directions for how to make something simple and yummy and I pretty much just ran with what was on hand.

Clams are cheap in these parts. I picked up a pound for something like $5.50 –effectively nothing. B was supposed to come over for dinner but bailed again, her loss. The roommate got the other serving instead. These were great! Slippery and slimey and sweet and homey and tasting like the sea. A little bit of punch from the lemon zest was perfect. Quick, cheap, and didn’t require turning my kitchen into an inferno. This is certainly something going on the list:

Clams! - with linguine in a lemony-C2H5OH sauce (pour deux)

• 1 pound clams, scrubbed under cold water, opened one that don’t close when you touch them and broken ones chucked out
• 250g linguine
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 large shallot, chopped
• 1 cup white wine (or if you don’t have that… 1/3 cup brandy + 2/3 cup chicken broth)
• 3-4 1″ chunks of smokey bacon, salt pork, or similar (optional, but adds a bit of depth to the cooking liquid)
• Lemon (for zesting)
• Parm (for grating)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 handful of fresh thyme, picked for leaves
• Pinch or two chili flakes

Heat some olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, thyme, and bacon (if using) for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat for another 2 minutes. Add wine (or other liquid) to stop the cooking process. At this point, have a pot of water on a good boil and add the linguine. FIre the other pan up to hot and reduce the wine by half. Add the clams and cover for 3-4 minutes, stirring once. At this point most of the clams should be open. If they aren’t, cover and give them another minute. Discard any that don’t open. Remove the bacon and discard (or munch on). Add butter and chillies swirl for another minute. Linguine should be done, so add and swirl everything around. Taste, season with salt if needed. If the liquid seems too thin add a bit of the starchy pasta water. Plate and add (using a microplane) some lemon zest shavings and a thin vaneer of parm. Serve with a bowl to dump shells. Yummy deliciousness from the clams barfing up their juice when they open into the sauce. Mhm.

-m, out