This white wine bucatini pasta with clam sauce is the perfect meal to impress your friends and family. The white wine brings out the clam flavor and the lemon juice with parsley adds declicious freshness to this pasta dish. Don’t be intimidated by its flavourful complexity and presentation; it comes together in less time than you’d think!
TIPS FOR MAKING WHITE WINE BUCATINI PASTA
Cooking the pasta: Your pasta water should be as salty as the ocean. Always cook the pasta 2 to 3 minutes less than the directives on the package. It will finish cooking in the sauce which will prevent it from becoming too soft or soggy. Additionally, keep some pasta water aside so that you can add it into the sauce to finish the cooking. Pasta water just makes everything come together nicely so you shouldn’t omit that step.
White wine: White wine brings out the seafood clam flavour and is a nice complement to this pasta dish. If you don’t use wine in your cooking, you can replace it with the same amount of chicken stock.
Bucatini pasta alternative: If you cannot find bucatini at your grocery store, you can replace it with spaghetti or linguini.
Tomato paste: You need to cook the tomato paste until it becomes dark orange or brown in color. This will not only remove the bitter taste of raw tomato but it will also add extra flavor to your dish once it is cooked.
Anchovy paste: You can omit the anchovy paste if you don’t like the taste of it. However, anchovy is considered an umami flavor and subtly enhances the flavors of this dish. I am not an anchovy fan, but adding it does make a difference.
Fresh shelled clams: You should buy fresh clams from a trusted source. However, it is possible that some shells will not open. If this is the case, discard them as they are no longer fresh nor safe to eat.
Do you need a side idea to go with this recipe? You can try my crispy oven roasted brussel sprouts with parmigiano reggiano HERE! It’s low-carb, easy to prepare and it’s lactose free!
Equipment
- Pan with a steam basket
- Large pot
- cast iron French oven or skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry bucatini pasta
- ¼ cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup green onion diced
- 2 tsp chili pepper flakes Optional
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- 2 tsp anchovy paste
- 1 cup fully cooked clam meat
- 3 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine
- Juice of half a lemon
- 16-20 fresh clams
- Salt & pepper
- ¼ cup pasta water
To serve and garnish:
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
- Parmigiano reggiano grated
Instructions
- In a pan with a steam basket, cook fresh clams until the shells open, about 7 minutes. Discard the ones that remain closed.
- In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta as per instructions, but with two minutes less. Keep pasta water.
- Meanwhile, in a cast iron French oven or skillet on medium heat, heat Extra virgin olive oil. Add garlic and green onion. Cook for about 30 seconds until the green onions are softened.
- Optional: Add chili pepper flakes and mix.
- Add tomato paste. Stirring frequently, cook for another two to three minutes or until the tomato paste becomes dark orange/brown color.
- Add anchovy paste, clam meat. Stir well to combine all ingredients.
- Add white wine and deglaze the bottom of the cooking pan, bring it to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until the sauce has reduced to half its initial volume. Add chopped parsley leaves.
- Add and toss the al dente pasta into the white wine and clam sauce so that the sauce covers the pasta. Add lemon juice and pasta water, one spoonful at a time and mix until everything comes together. You may not need the whole 1/4 cup of pasta water.
- Add the shelled clams and mix.
- To plate: pick up a portion of pasta with a carving fork and twirl it into a ladle until the pasta becomes a little nest. Put it on a plate, add the shelled clams on top and garnish with some parsley. Finish by drizzling some extra virgin olive oil and top with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
