Speaking of having friends over for dinner the other night, here is the main course. It’s adapted from John Hinterberger’s (legendary) Clam Spaghetti recipe. Hinterberger was a long time writer for the Seattle Times and, as I remember, he would publish this on occasion with no two versions being quite the same. He would tweak the recipe over and over, sometimes there was wine, sometimes there were olives and/or pimento, etc. In his spirit I played with the recipe a bit and have settled on the following, although it’s definitely not something I follow to the letter, more of a Jazz fugue.
John Hinterberger's Clam Spaghetti
6 servings
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 dried red chili pepper, finely chopped or 1 tsp red pepper flakes crushed
1 large onion, chopped
3-6 (to taste) large garlic cloves, minced or mashed
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped, or 2 tablespoons dried
2 tablespoon oregano
Salt and pepper
½ cup dry white wine
2 cans (4½ ounces) chopped clams, drained with liquid reserved
1/3 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound dried spaghetti or linguine (for this dinner I used Bucati)
Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1. Put ½ cup olive oil in a large saute pan and heat, adding the dried chili pepper, chopped onion and garlic cloves. Cook slowly for about 30 minutes or until the onions are very soft.
2. Add to pan the basil, oregano, salt and pepper, wine and liquid from the clams. Continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by 1/4 to 1/3. Keep warm. In the meantime, in a separate pan sauté the mushrooms in a tablespoon of butter or olive oil and add to the mixture.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook spaghetti until barely al dente.
4. As pasta is cooking, add the clams and cheese to the sauce and simmer at low heat for about 5 minutes. The cheese serves as a thickener and the amount you add depends on how much you reduced the liquid. I like to reduce it by about 25% and to add about 1/4 cup of cheese.
5. After draining the pasta, stir into the sauce and toss. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese and additional pepper.
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