Linguine with Clams

No clever title here kids, just the facts: Linguine with clams. Simple, easy and delicious- exactly what you need sometimes. 

Here's how I did it. This time. Because I do it differently every time. 

Just depends on what ingredients I've got on hand.

Step one- put a large pot of water on the stove for the linguine. Cover and turn the burner onto high.

Step two- get your ingredients together:

Linguine, chopped garlic, white wine, butter and oil (not pictured), 

Chopped clams, grape or cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil (pictured below).

For the clams, I used 3 cans, which I drained (save the juice for later). The tomatoes I cut into quarters, and the basil I sliced (the easiest way to do this is to pile all the leaves on top of each other, roll them up, then slice).

Next, add a little butter and oil to a pan, along with a couple spoonfuls of garlic, and heat on medium-high.

While the garlic is warming up, add the linguine to the pot and set a timer. It is so easy to lose track of time when cooking pasta, so make sure you always do this!

Once the garlic starts to turn brown (and this will happen very quickly) add the clam juice that you saved from the cans, then splash in a little white wine. I also recommend a little salt, and some black pepper.

After that cooks down for a couple minutes, add the clams then let that heat up for a few minutes (Oh, and don't forget to stir your pasta!).

Next, toss in the tomatoes and basil, and turn the burner down to medium-low.

While that is heating up, drain the pasta. DO NOT RINSE! Never rinse your pasta! Rinsing it washes away all the starch, which you need so that your sauce will stick to it. It's also better for the pasta so that it will absorb all the flavor of your sauce.
After you drain off the pasta, while it's still hot, toss the pasta and the clams together. I just used the pot that I cooked the pasta in.

Then, all that's left is to serve it up, and put a little fresh grated Parmesan on top.

And dinner is served!
Enjoy!