This recipe for white clam sauce for linguini or any other pasta is easy, economical and so tried and true it used 7.5-ounce cans of clams. They’re 6.5 ounces today and probably were 7 ounces at some point in between. The full recipe uses two cans and it’s a snap to cut the recipe in half for a dinner for two.
Canned clams make this a quick weeknight recipe that loses nothing in the convenience; the buttery richness is all there. I’ve made similar sauces that begin with a lot of clams to be shucked, but who has time for that during the week? And it was on a weeknight that a busy working woman served this to me when I was young.
She was a family friend I admired — and still do — for her success in a field dominated by men. She probably knew I looked up to her and despite our age gap, she befriended me. 
That weeknight, still in her heels, she whipped up this dish. I asked for the recipe (if she knew I couldn”t cook, she didn’t let on) and with her characteristic efficiency, she typed it up and sent it to me the very next day. I was sure someday I’d be able to make it and I’ve made it for ages, updating it a bit and using less liquid to compensate for the fewer clams in the smaller cans.
I remember her fondly every time I make this and even though I know the recipe by heart, I like to pull out her original recipe card and send good thoughts her way. Cooking for others is an act of love, one I never take for granted.
White Clam Sauce
2 (6 1/2-ounce) cans minced or chopped clams
1/4 cup (2 ounces) good olive oil
1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced – see notes
2 TB chopped flat-leaf parsley or more to taste
1 tsp salt
1/2 pound linguini or other long pasta
Drain the clams, reserving 5/8 cup /5 ounces of the juice, and set aside.
In a large skillet over barely medium heat, slowly heat the oil and butter. Add the garlic and saute briefly, until golden and fragrant. Stir in the reserved clam juice, the parsley and the salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Add the clams and simmer uncovered an additional 3 minutes. Serve hot.
Serves 3 – 4
Ella’s Notes: She used to smash the garlic cloves and remove them after they were golden. Perhaps our American palates weren’t as accustomed to garlic then. I love garlic and make the sauce as above. I prefer the meatier chopped clams, but minced are perfectly fine too.
Copyright (C) 2009 From Scratch All Rights Reserved 
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Talk about an old-school recipe card! That’s just fantastic. I’m glad you kept it.
It has been forever since I’ve had pasta with clam sauce. I prefer red, but Annie has been swinging me around to cream sauces.
Nate’s last blog post..Malaysian Honeycomb Cake Recipe
I’d never get rid of that card, Nate. She was an absolute doll. I really miss her. Call me a sentimental fool, but I think a wonderful thing about recipes is that they help people to live on with us.
You know I’ve never found a red clam sauce recipe I really like. Do you have one? (fingers crossed)
PS – Welcome to the Blogroll.
It’s great you keep that card.
My husband sometimes makes a clam sauce like that—probably learned it from his mother. (gone for 11 years)
White clam sauce, however, was exotic for my mother. I remember finding a recipe similar to yours by Peg Bracken in a woman’s magazine (Woman’s Day?) for a white clam sauce with spaghetti, and I really, really wanted to make it. But we lived in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and even canned clams were difficult to find. In the Keweenaw, most folk kept to the very basics—but there was a dusty can of clams in the local grocery store. My mother was not impressed. It could be that my 12 year old self with no cooking skills… Or perhaps the “best used by” date was past?
At any rate, since she died a year ago, I’ve looked for some of the recipes she wrote out by hand for me when I was first married. I think that in a rare clearing up frenzy I tossed most of those old papers.
I guess I just thought she’d always be there…
tess’s last blog post..Mochi + Waffles = Moffles
Oh, {{{tess}}}, first – I’m so sorry to hear about your mother. You have my sympathy — and empathy. My mother died a few years ago and I still miss her terribly. Maybe some day you’ll run across the papers or remember, suddenly and out of nowhere, where you put them.
Peg Bracken has a lot to answer for. It seems as if I’ve always been aware of “I Hate to Cook” (who isn’t?) but until I read a book about 20th century food/cooking I never was aware of its influence, coupled with the advent of frozen and convenience foods, on what I call our faux food culture. I was in a used book store a few weeks ago and saw at least a dozen of them, all well-worn.
When I think of food and the UP I think of one thing – fabulous taffy from Mackinac Island, and I’m not even sure that qualifies as UP. (I am woefully midwest-challenged, desipte having had a housemate from Michigan who brought me the taffy one summer.) I understand the dusty clams, though. I associate fresh water fish with Michigan. Minnesota etc and we’re very much ocean seafood people in the east. I suppose it’s all a holdover from ancestors who ate what was available and sustainable locally — gee, what a good idea!
Here’s another {{{{hug}}}}.