Why go to an Italian restaurant in New York City and spend 50-70 dollars per person when the recipes are cheaper to make at home and equally enjoyable? This dish is not only simple to make but is exotic enough to impress one's dining partners. Remember, any Italian dish should be made with passion, love and pride. An Italian recipe with these very special ingredients should be enough to savor the flavors and leaving the diners craving for more. Other than these special ingredients, here are the key items that will be needed when preparing this dish.
Linguine Alle Vongole
Ingredients:
- Coarse Sea Salt
- 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 pound of whole wheat linguine (healthier and has all the good stuff)
- 4 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced like in the movie Good Fellas)
- Liberal quantities of red cayenne pepper (the spicier the better)
- 10-15 cherry tomatos chopped in half
- 1 Can of diced tomatos
- Pre-made spicy fradiavolo sauce (or make your own home made version of it)
- 1 pound of fresh clams
- 1 pound of shrimp (fresh or packaged)
- 1 pound of scallops
- 1 pound of baby squid
- Fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- Fresh basil (finely chopped)
- Fresh oregano (finely chopped)
- Fresh Thyme
- black peppercorns (to grind)
- Red wine of your choice (preferably cabernet sauvignon, shiraz or merlot)
Preparation:
- Begin by boiling a large pot of water and liberal amounts of sea salt and extra virgin olive oil. Then add the whole wheat linguine.
- In the mean time, heat up a nice large saute pan for a couple minutes then add 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil in order to heat it up for a couple minutes. Then add the garlic until they start looking like liquid gold.
- Add the fradiavolo sauce, diced tomatoes, chopped up cherry tomatoes and lower the heat to medium while stirring it using a wooden spatula. After 2-4 minutes take it off the burner and let it sit for 3-5 minutes allowing for the flavors to develop. Then take it back to the burner and add a red wine of your choice. Let it heat up until the juice comes to a boil.
- Next, add the clams, shrimp, scallops and baby squid into the pan as well as the red cayenne pepper, ground up black pepper, parsley, basil, oregano and thyme. Also add more olive oil into the dish. Now stir with a wooden spatula then put a cover on it for 5-10 minutes.
The Aftermath:
The linguine should be ready by now so strain it then put it into a large pasta bowl. Add the main dish on top of the linguine and stir it in order to even it out and then serve it to 3-5 people. Make sure to add freshly grated Parmesan cheese, black pepper and some more olive oil (to your liking). Also a nice Italian bread goes a long way to soak up all that home made goodness.
This is definitely a dish that merits the true appreciation of mankind's culinary delights. Enjoy this recipe as well as using it as a basis for creating new ones.
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