Pasta with Clams and Fresh Tomatoes
A simple pasta and salad are perfect pairs on long smoking hot summer days. Canned clams make for a quick meal that’s the right size for 2 of us. Any pasta will do but we do like the smaller shaped one that gather up the clams and tomatoes best, such as orecchiette.
Pasta with Clams and Fresh Tomatoes
Use some reserved clam juice or a bit of white wine in the pasta. The idea is to slowly sauté the tomatoes, letting them release some juices and soften. They will be sweet and full of flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 5 oz. (142 ml) can wild whole baby clams, drained, juice reserved
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- ½ lb (227 gr) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ¼ tsp. garlic minced
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ¼ cup white wine or reserved clam juice
- ½ cup (35 gr) Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil chopped
- 2 TBSP fresh parsley chopped
- Garnish with red pepper flakes
- *1 cup dry pasta per person
Instructions
- Start the pasta water just before starting the sauce.
- Drain clams and reserve ¼ cup juice, if using.
- Cut tomatoes in half and finely shop basil and parsley.
- If pasta takes about 10 minutes to cook, when the pasta goes into the water, heat the olive oil in a medium non-stick skillet.
- Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Slowly sauté until pasta is nearly done cooking and tomatoes are soft and juicy. Stir occasionally.
- Just prior to draining pasta, add white wine to tomatoes and reduce to about half.
- Remove sauce from heat.
- Stir Parmesan cheese, basil, and parsley into sauce.
- Drain pasta and top with sauce.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes.
Notes
Tempranillo grapes produce “Rioja” wine and it’s a very food friendly wine. Depending on how it has been aged, some may taste medium bodied while others are definitely full bodied.
We’ve paired this fresh tomato dish with Rioja many times, all successful.
We’ve paired:
- Balbas Ardal Reserva Seleccion Especial 2010 (94 Points Wine Spectator) ($23.00)
- Campillo Rioja Reserva 2016 ($40.00)
- Faustino V Reserva 2015 ($30.00)