How to Make Manhattan-Style Clam Spaghetti

The fresh, salty, delicious aroma of the clam brings out the very flavor of the sea. Pair this pungent gem with tomatoes, and you get a wonderful combination like no other. This recipe takes regular clam spaghetti, in itself a scrumptious seafood treat, and kicks it all the way to New York City with the addition of tomatoes. If you’re in the Northeast United States, make this dinner during the summer, when seafood is at its best. Try and use the freshest clams you can find. And then sit back and enjoy the sunset, while slurping this dish down with some crusty bread, a green salad, and a glass of Merlot. Read on to learn how to make Manhattan-style clam spaghetti.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A large saucepan
• A large boiling pot
• A stirring spoon
• A sharp knife for chopping
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tbsp. butter
• ½ cup white wine
• 2 pints fresh, shucked clams, with juice
• (1) 16 oz. can of peeled tomatoes, crushed
• (½) 16 oz. package of spaghetti
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1½ tsp. basil
• 1½ tsp. oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and sauté until transparent. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, and then add the white wine, and salt and pepper, if desired. Simmer for 5 minutes, until wine has cooked down by about half.

2. Add the clams, clam juice, tomatoes, basil, oregano and bay leaves, and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, place water and a pinch of salt in a large cooking pot, and heat on high until boiling. Add the spaghetti and cook until it is al dente, or just tender with a little bite. Drain.

4. Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and stir in, cooking for 1 minute more. Season to taste. Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• If you’d like, you can top the spaghetti with the sauce, rather than incorporating it all into one pan. However, the flavor of the sauce really infuses into the pasta if it is all combined and tossed together in one pan before serving.
• Try using fresh herbs, rather than dried ones, but incorporate them into the sauce before serving, for best results. When using dried herbs, you can add them earlier.
• Use the lemon juice from one lemon in place of the white wine, if you want to cut out the alcohol. Lemon juice serves as an acid, just as white wine does, balancing out the flavors in the sauce.
• Don’t rinse the spaghetti after it is drained. Rinsing pasta washes away the starch, which then causes the sauce to just slide right off. You want your sauce to cling to the spaghetti as much as possible.
• Make sure your sauce is ready before the spaghetti is cooked and all set to go. Remember: The sauce should always wait for the pasta. The pasta should never wait for the sauce.