Spaghetti with Clam Sauce

Whenever I ask, "What would you like for dinner?", nine times out of ten the answer will be, "Spaghetti".

Spaghetti is popular here.

Whether it's marinara, arrabiata, meat sauce, ratatouille, garlic & oil or creamy clam sauce, spaghetti is always a favorite.

We had some clams left over from our shabu shabu dinner, so tonight it was garlic & oil clam sauce with spinach served along with a mushroom red sauce.

For the red sauce, I simply added some sauteed onions, garlic, wine, mushrooms & chili flakes to the last of a jar of spaghetti sauce.

For the clam sauce, here's what I used:

2 cans chopped clams

fresh clams

1/2 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups baby spinach leaves

Flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 cup sake

olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

If you don't have sake, use any dry white wine.

To a hot pan, add about 2 T olive oil and 2 T butter.

Add the minced garlic and onions. Saute until onions are soft. Do not brown them. Add some chili flakes if you like some heat.

When the onions are soft, add the broth from the two cans of chopped clams and the sake. Boil for a few minutes and let the liquid reduce a little. 

Next, add the clams.

Then add the spinach and the canned clams.

The clams will start to pop open when they're done.

Gently move the mixture around until the spinach is just wilted. This will only take a minute or two.

Ready to spoon over hot pasta.

My favorite used to be eating this spaghetti with clam sauce in a bowl, soupy. The girls like(d) it that way.

The guys here like it dry on a plate.

That's a little bit of mizithra cheese on top of the mushroom red sauce.

Serve it with a green salad, and you'll please the vegetarians too!

If you need a gluten-free alternative to the noodles, you can spiral cut a raw, fresh zucchini to make noodles, just use the tool featured in the Sashimi post. They're healthy, too!