Excuse Us for Living

Spaghetti & Red Clam Sauce

&

Zuppa di Clams!

by

Phil & Geri

  

     Excuse us for living, but it’s time for the 4^th PastaPost. It’s a recipe I’ve been dying to get out to you ever since I started sneaking our favorite pasta recipes into “Excuse Us…” every so often. Here it is! – -Spaghetti & Red Clam Sauce & Zuppa di Clams! As you would expect by now, there is a story and an explanation that goes along with these “gems.” But if you want to shut me up and “cut to the chase,” skip these paragraphs down to the recipe below. But warning, there is a great “hidden recipe within the recipe” that appears in these brief paragraphs!

     It all started (I’ll try to make this brief!) with the old, historic Clam Broth House, the corner of River Street and Newark Street, Hoboken, New Jersey. It was there from 1899 until 2004, when its landmark façade buckled due to work by construction workers, and the building was condemned and destroyed. (A new “Biggie’s Clam Bar” opened on the very same spot in 2010, under new ownership, and is slowly getting worthwhile reviews.) Anyway, my introduction to the Clam Broth House was my parents and their friends going there when I was a kid in the 1950’s and 60’s. Then we young adults in our 1960’s college years and beyond into our 1970’s adulthood enjoyed the restaurant. Among its many “claims to fame” was the appetizer called “Zuppa di Clams.” It was served in an old tin pot right on the table with the lid to keep it piping hot. All we knew was that it was fresh clams in a red garlicky sauce that “you could die for.” It was served with seemingly endless Italian bread and butter to dip in the sauce “to your heart’s content.” As college kids, we never did get to order a main dish, but kept ordering several pots of the zuppa appetizer. Returning as adults, we learned to savor the zuppa followed by a sumptuous ethnic entrée with wine and a good Italian dessert with expresso.

     Fast forward to married life and our story of “Friday Night,” chronicled in an earlier “Excuse Us…” post, and cooking up our favorite pasta recipes. (Those recipes are also in previous posts here!) This one I left to wife Geri. After sampling Zuppa di Clams at the Clam Broth House with me, I asked Geri to try to replicate that taste, the Clam Broth House recipe for “zuppa.” She capably did so and it was delicious…as good as the original! We liked it so much, we expanded the concept into a recipe for Spaghetti & Red Clam Sauce as well! (One cannot live by mere White Clam sauce alone!) Truth be told, we love the recipe so much that we more often never get to the pasta, but most times enjoy Zuppa di Clams eating all the Italian or French bread and butter we want “with abandon,” accompanied by a nice Italian salad and plenty of dry red wine.

     The hidden recipe! Here are all the ingredients for Zuppa without the clams & without the red sauce, ready to pour over pasta! Read on!

     Ah, but here’s that “hidden recipe” I referred to above. It’s a well kept secret. Just two years ago, I had one of my “pasta inspirations” that only Geri can pull off. I said, “Wouldn’t it be good to make a pasta with all those good ingredients for ‘the zuppa’ that smell ‘out of this world’ as we cook it and just stop?!” – -No clams, no red sauce. Geri said, “It sounds good!” and “We should try it!” We did. And it was! Then the piece de résistance, what to call it. Never at a loss in the naming category, I upped and said, “This is so good. It’s the ultimate! It has to be ‘Pasta Ba Fongull’!” And so it was and has been ever since. A star was born! What is it called? After all it was serendipity…discovered by accident! Maybe I should have called it “Pasta Serendipity.” But I like my naughty name better!

 

          Presenting…

                                                  …Spaghetti & Red Clam Sauce

                                                                    &

                                                          Zuppa di Clams

 

1/2 cup canola oil

1 small onion sliced thin

20 cloves garlic sliced long (if you’re daring!)

4  3” links Italian sausage browned in a frying pan & sliced, hot or sweet (hot is better!)

2 tsp oregano

3/4-1 tsp red pepper flakes

5 tsp fennel seed

1 can flat anchovy fillets minced (optional)

5 large sprigs parsley chopped

(Stop here & you have the makings of Pasta Ba Fongull’ ! Just pour over pasta!)

3  24 oz. jars meat sauce

1  10 oz. can baby clams & liquid

1½ dozen fresh clams, Littleneck or Topneck by choice (recommend Topneck for size!)

1/2 lb. spaghetti (Your favorite! Recommend Vermicelli!!!)

Or, just skip the pasta & serve with 1 loaf Italian/French bread! (our favorite choice!)

Or, “pig out” with both pasta & bread & “do your thing”

In a large sauce pot sauté onion & garlic in oil ‘til soft, not brown. Add sausage, oregano, red pepper, fennel seed, anchovies, & parsley. Simmer 5 minutes.

(Stop here for Pasta Ba Fongull’ & just pour over pasta!)

Add 3 jars meat sauce. Cook fresh clams in small batches of 5 or so (rinse first) in sauce with pot lid on ‘til they open. Remove clams as they open & add more clams ‘til all are opened. Add can of baby clams & liquid. Now return all those opened fresh clams into the sauce & heat gently.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water ‘til al dente. Drain & toss with small amount of sauce. Serve sauce & clams over pasta.

Or, serve with Italian/French bread & butter to dip in sauce.

Or, combine the above & have a great time!

Makes 2 generous servings

   Excuse us for living, but again this is another favorite pasta recipe of ours, but with triple the possibilities!

     Comments: Now or maybe after you make one of these dishes!