Clams Two Ways

Found gorgeous Wild Clams from Whole Foods...That set the menu for the night...Wasn't sure if 12 clams (a loaf of bread and salad) would be enough for the 2 us, so I decided to make Linguine & Clams too. It was fun making this dinner, but the 12 clams would have been more than enough...Crusty bread dipped into the cooking liquid...The thought makes my mouth water.

I wash the clams and soak in a bowl of salted water. Bring a pot of water to a boil for the linguine.

In a pan with a lid, I saute 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a whole serrano chile in olive oil...turn off the heat until I'm ready to cook the clams (in-shell). When the pasta is in the water and almost ready to be transferred to the sauce, place the clams into the pan, add 2 C of liquid (white wine and chicken broth, clam juice), cover and cook for 5 minutes (depending on the size of the clams)...You'll hear the clams opening - do not overcook...there is nothing more yucky than rubbery clams! Remove the opened clams from the pan and put in a bowl. Remove the garlic and serrano chile from the pan, chop up, add back into the pan while the reducing the cooking liquid - this will concentrate the flavors...Swirl in 1 T of butter and fresh flat-leaf parsley and pour over the clams.

In a separate pan with olive oil and a pat of butter, saute 1 finely diced shallot, 1 whole crushed garlic clove and 1 can of clams drained...Add in 1/2 C White Wine and simmer until all liquid is absorbed...Add in 1/2 a bottle of clam juice and chopped flat-leaf parsley...(hold at this stage if pasta isn't cooked yet). Using tongs add the almost cooked linguine (about 3 minutes less than the box says) and a 2 or 3 ladles full of pasta water to the pan...cook until the pasta has absorbed the flavor of the clam sauce - add in more pasta water if needed to finish cooking the pasta...Turn off the heat and stir in 1 T of butter to finish. Sprinkle with parsley.