the five month old Cavapoo with the cooking inspired name!
Meet EV!!!! I just realized it has been 6 months since my last blog! YIKES!!! I have actually prepared some good food in that time………we might have to address the air fryer poutine in the future. Yet again I am sidetracked. So this is our new forever friend EV_OO. I wanted a name that would have some “nod” to our previous forever friend Olive whose time cut short from complications to Addisons Disease. EV came to us from a wonderful breeder near Brainerd MN and if anyone is on the look out for a Poodle, a Cavapoo or a Cavalier Spaniel I can hook you up! OK lets get to the food….
I first fell in love with linguini and clam sauce when my oldest son was a baby. We had recently moved to Connell, WA and I was watching Regis and Kathy (that was back in the old days like 31 years ago) and Regis shared a recipe his wife Joy always made. Well I was hooked and have been ever since. It is a dish that all of my children enjoy. When Jed was at a Doctors appt at the young age of 6, the Dr. asked him what his favorite food was. He told the doc “linguini and clam sauce” impressing the doctor with his advanced pallet!
It is an easy dish but yesterday I’d opened up the door on a relatively humid free day and as it warmed up didn’t want to use two pans on the stove. I wondered if anyone ever uses their quick cooker (aka insta pot) for pasta. I confirmed that this is indeed a very common practice so there we went!!!
I started by gather the ingredients!
This is it that is all!!! (well except the parmesan cheese….pretty important stuff!)
This recipe calls for garlic and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not just use garlic powder. Instead of Olive Oil (ack I didn’t have any) I substituted Avocado oil. We have a good white chardonnay. This one is exceptionally good so exceptional the bottle may or may not be empty…. Two cans of bumble bee clams. Any canned clams work. The rest of the team included red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, linguini noodles, salt and chicken stock. I actually also added a tbsp. of fresh lemon juice but that is just an option.
It helps prevent diabetes, constipation, high blood pressure, fever, indigestion, as well as improve the skin, hair, and teeth.
So we begin by draining the liquid from the canned clams but SAVE the liquid we are going to use that!!!
Draining the clams and reserving the clam juice!! VERY IMPORTANT
Woops, lets step back. Draining the clams was actually my second step. The first step is this………
This NoCurfew Chardonnay is perfect for this dish
….opening a good bottle of chardonnay for the recipe. It is good to open the bottle first so it can breath. OK that isn’t a thing but it is good to open it and pour the required amount necessary (3/4 Cup) so you make sure you still have some when it is needed. You can use the rest to sip on while you are cooking!
I love this wine opener. It is just plastic but it is awesome and I’ve had (or have) a lot of different cork screws! Trust me this is the one you need!
the only cork screw you will ever need!!!
how easy is that! The corkscrew is possibly an English invention, due to the tradition of beer and cider, and Treatise on Cider by John Worlidge in 1676 describes “binning of tightly corked cider bottles on their sides”, although the earliest reference to a corkscrew is, “steel worm used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles” from 1681 (via Wiki)
Alrighty, so now you are draining the clams. Once the clams are drained you will add the 3/4 cup of wine and than add liquid (preferably chicken stock……..but nothing is to say you can’t use more wine) so that the liquid equals 2 cups.
Now we are going to get our sauce ready. We start by putting a tablespoon of avocado oil in the quick cooker and turning it on to sear .
My pampered chef Quick Cooker but you can use any insta pot
It takes about 3 minutes for the sear to heat up and at this point add a HEAPING spoon of garlic (that wards off the villians and has lots of detoxing properties…….I just made that up but it sounds like something garlic is good for other than intense yummy flavor which is exactly why powder does not WORK) to the pot. Let it heat up and than add your drained clams as well. I generally let that cook a few minutes until I smell great things! Time now to add a tsp or two of red pepper flakes, 2 tsp of Italian seasoning (more or less to taste for all your herbs) some fresh basil (though you can use dried as well) and 1/2 tsp of salt. Let this all marry together for a few minutes scraping the bottom so no one gets stuck!
It is not a matter of indifference whether we like oysters or clams, snails or shrimp, if only we know how to unravel the existential significance of these foods.
Jean-Paul Sartre
At this point we stop the sear and add the liquid. Next comes the linguini . I took 3/4 of a 16 oz box and than broke them in half. Placing them in the pot and then submerging them but not stirring!
Linguine is a type of pasta that originates from the Northern regions of Italy and is traditionally served with seafood or pesto.
I don’t want to be submerged by depression. Ingrid Betancourt …so eat linguini!
Now comes the quick cookers job! Put your lid on and make sure your seal in that bad boy. Things don’t go right if you don’t have the gasket!!!! With the quick cooker, you need to make sure the “poofs” are lined up!
Make sure your puffs of steam are lined up and the button is up!!!!
Now that your lid is on secure press manual and adjust the cooking time to five minutes. After the five minute sealed cooking time is over you will want to do the natural pressure release for five minutes. After that is done go ahead and quick release any further pressure and open the lid! Stir and add some parmesan cheese and VIOLA you have a wonderful meal!!!
Parmesan will help thicken the sauce!
Dig IN!!!!
I took some croissants and split them to make garlic bread. I also am enjoying a glass of the nummy NoCurfew Chardonnay !
I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve added to the blog! That truly won’t do! I took a FANTASTIC trip to Sitka Alaska in June! We spent three days on board the “StoryTeller” catching great Salmon, Halibut and other Pacific Ocean sea creatures! I’ll need to share some stories about that as well as recipes! To die for Smoked Salmon dip is a favorite and Halibut lends itself well to fish tacos!
You should check out the gang at Angling Unlimited! You might have the trip of your lifetime as well! https://anglingunlimited.com/
My talented sister took an image I took that our Hostess Kendall left on our refrigerator and turned it into a favorite memory of that trip. Here I am wearing it for the first time today!!!
*T shirt by Kendall Original Artwork. Sitka AK
You all have a lovely day and try this recipe, I think it will become your favorite as well!!!! SALUTE!!!!