Homemade Spinach Fettuccine with Clam Sauce

This dish is my starting point because as with most things in my life it reminds me of the man that taught me everything, my father.

There are so many variables on how you can make this dish, but the main ingredients stay the same! Whole live clams either in their shells or shucked, depending on where you are getting them from they can be little necks or middle necks. Garlic, white wine, red pepper and fresh Italian parsley round out this classic.

Clam Sauce Ingredients :

1 bag of fresh clams, 36 or 50 count. Garlic, 10 cloves to a full head, depending on your own personal taste. White wine – approximately 1 cup. Parsley. Olive oil. Red pepper flakes, to taste.

Clam Sauce Directions:
Start with an adult beverage 🍷!!! Soak clams in salted ice water with a few tablespoons of corn meal to help purge sand and to rehydrate clams. This is going to make a natural clam broth which is where all of your flavors come from. Get rid of any open clams. Coat the bottom of a pan with olive oil. Lightly saute garlic and avoid burning. Add in the red pepper flakes, reduce heat and add white wine. Rinse clams and add them into the pan and bring to a boil in a covered pan. Clams are cooked as soon as they open. DO NOT over cook! Add parsley.
We like to serve our clam sauce with fresh homemade spinach fettuccine. Homemade pasta is brainless and rediculosly simple and only requires three ingredients. Flour, water and egg if you want to get fancy. We are going to make spinach fettuccine to go with our clam sauce.

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Homemade Spinach Fettuccini Directions:
Start with approximately 1 pound of fresh baby spinach. Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil and saute until wilted (the softer the better). Remove from heat and place spinach in a food processor and blend until as smooth as possible. It’s ok to add water if needed. For approximately 6 servings of pasta, start with 4 cups of flour. Either in a bowl or on a solid surface counter (if working on a flat counter you are going to make a well in the middle of the flour to add your liquid ingredients). Whisk 1 egg and add into the pureed spinach mixture. Incorporate wet ingredients into the flour and then add cold water in small incriments to achieve a dry kneadable ball of dough. If dough is to dry add water, if dough is to wet add flour. Brainless!

Continue to knead dough until all ingredients are well incorporated and homogenous ball of dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
For cutting the pasta, life is much easier if you have a pasta machine either hand cranked or electric! Follow directions for your specific pasta machine (we like our fettuccine on the thick side).

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Feel free to tweek as you please….ENJOY…. No need to tell us how you tweeked your dish, start your own blog if you want! 😉