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Pasta Atomica
Aug 7, 2018 17:41:01   #
pafret Loc: Northeast
 
Pasta Atomica

Linguine with olive oil, garlic, parsley, pepper, clams and prawns: Inspired by Aglio e Olio, years ago, I tweaked the Aglio e Olio recipe to include prawns and clams, and a dollop of butter for smoothness. This will serve 8.

1½ lb of steamer clams (or canned chopped clams)*
1½ lb. of large prawns
3 full heads of garlic
1 cup extra virgin olive oil**
4 pinches red pepper flakes (to taste)
¼ lb. salted butter
1½ lb of thin linguine or thin spaghetti
Salt
1 bunch flat-leafed Italian parsley
3-4 filets canned anchovies (Optional)

*If you don’t have any clams increase the prawns
**The right amount of olive oil is what it takes to thoroughly coat each strand, but not to leave an oil pool at the bottom of the serving dish.

· Finely chop garlic. Add garlic, anchovy fillets and 4 Oz (½ cup) of olive oil to a pan. Simmer on low flame until garlic just begins to change color, do not allow it to brown. The anchovies will breakdown and dissolve. At that moment, add pepper flakes and about half of the chopped parsley. Add dollop of butter, allow sauce to simmer about a minute longer, then remove from heat and set aside.
· Steam the clams in a large covered pot for about three minutes after all clams have opened. Shuck and set aside meat, discarding any clams that do not open. Reserve the clam nectar.
· Shell & clean prawns, reserving shells. Lightly sauté empty shells in remaining butter and olive oil, remove shells, and add prawns, dash of salt and a grinding of black pepper and sauté until all the prawns have turned reddish. Set prawns aside.
· Fill a large pot two thirds of the way to the top with water (a gallon of water per lb. of pasta), add clam nectar. Bring water to a rapid boil, add 2 to 3 tablespoons salt, add pasta, stir and cook until al dente, usually 8 to 10 minutes. Start taste-testing strands for doneness after about 7 minutes.
· Drain (but do not rinse) pasta, put it in a serving bowl and add clams, prawns, garlic mixture -you may have to reheat at last moment, remaining parsley, then stir and serve. DO NOT SERVE WITH GRATED CHEESE.



I make a speedy version of this quite often, and the entire meal is ready in the time it takes the water to boil and cook the pasta.

Skip the clams.
Put the pot of water to boil and get out a large skillet (I use a fifteen inch cast iron).
Make a couple of turns with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil to get about a sixteenth inch coverage on the bottom of the pan, add 1/2 stick of unsalted butter. (Yes I know the recipe calls for 'salted butter' but it doesn't have a lot of salted anchovy fillets in it.)
Chop up the garlic and add to the skillet over low heat.
Add the anchovy fillets and stir. (I open a 2 Oz can of anchovies and dump the whole thing in the skillet. More than what is needed, but what am I going to do with an opened can of anchovies.)
Clean the Shrimp, discarding the shells.
Eyeball the garlic and stir.
If water has come to boil add about 1 tablespoon salt and then add pasta.
Turn up the heat to medium in the skillet, add the hot pepper flakes, the shrimp and half the Parsley if using. Use the other half when tossing the dish
Stir and sauté the shrimp, add additional oil or butter if it appears dry.
If the shrimp become fully cooked before the pasta is done move them off the heat
If the pasta is done before the shrimp, turn up the heat on the shrimp and move the pasta off the heat.
Shrimp done, pasta done, take two cups of pasta water and reserve. Drain pasta and dump into the skillet with the shrimp and garlic. Toss to combine and coat the pasta with olive oil.
If the dish appears dry, adjust with the reserved pasta water.
Toss in the rest of the parsley and serve.

Notes:
This uses about ¼ to ½ cup of oil. (I am a cheapskate with EVOO, you might like a little more oil, just don't make puddles)

Don't let the garlic burn, nothing tastes worse and anything you add in after that is destined for the garbage can.

This usually results in the pasta being held for a few minutes (like two) while the shrimp finish cooking. Almost a dead heat.

I actually keep the shrimp shells (Freezer) and use them when I need to make a fish stock or infusion.

Italians have this almost religious hatred of cheese on fish flavored dishes and I am that way about almost any dish with cheese. However, it is your food [b]De gustibus non est disputandum[b/b].

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