Oh sure, I love the classic pasta with clam sauce, both the red kind and the white kind. I like the kind with the clam shells, and the kind where there are no shells and just bits of delicious clams in the sauce. When it comes to pasta with clam sauce, I’m not a picky girl.
However, I’m all for shaking things up here and there, and I’m also all for streamlining whatever can be streamlined if the dinner is meant for, say, a Wednesday night when it is cold and rainy and you’ve done one million things throughout the course of the day and you are tired and cranky. Not that I am ever cranky. The Southern husband will swear to it. (While I am within hearing distance anyway!)
Which brings me to this, my current favorite new pasta with clam sauce recipe. Now prepare yourself, because it calls for jarred pasta sauce. I think that might be the first time I have every typed the words “jarred pasta sauce” on my blog, but in this case, it really does work, and it’s essential to the speedy Wednesday night approach for this.
The sauce in this case is tomato vodka sauce, and I promise that there is a jar of it in your supermarket spaghetti sauce aisle, just waiting for you. And in this case, I promise that it’s going to ultimately taste fabulous…after we get done messing with it.
So here’s how this goes: Find yourself some nice short pasta. I like campanelle, which looks like little wavy seashells, and Barilla makes this variety, but if you can’t find it any short pasta like penne will be fine. Boil it up in some nicely salted water. While it’s boiling, you are going to make what I think is one of the best parts of this whole thing, which are some crispy, buttery, herby breadcrumbs.
All you do for that is to grab a couple pieces of bread, whirl them in your food processor until they are crumbs, and then stir them in a small frying pan with some butter until they are golden and crunchy, and then mix in a little fresh chopped parsley. All of that will take about 5 minutes.
Now! Grab that jar of vodka sauce and pour it into a large saucepan along with some lemon juice and some garlic. Heat it to a simmer and then stir in the pasta and some canned clams. I like using the whole baby clams, but if you can only find chopped or minced they will do just fine.
Now cover your pot, let it stand for about 5 minutes, and then dish it out. Give everyone’s plate a nice generous topping of breadcrumbs and a grinding of fresh pepper, and you’re set!
And I promise you, unless someone spots that empty sauce jar in the recycling, your secret is safe with me!
Pasta with Clams, Vodka Sauce and Crispy Breadcrumbs
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta (I like campanelle for this, but any short pasta will work!)
- 2 slices hearty bread
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 10 ounce can baby clams or 2 6 ounce cans chopped clams, drained
- 1 cup jarred vodka marinara sauce
- 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Bring large pot of salted water to boil, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, chop bread into crumbs in a food processor. Melt butter in a large skillet until bubbling, then add crumbs. Stir until golden brown, about 5 minutes or so, and cool slightly. Stir in parsley.
- Add vodka sauce, garlic and lemon juice to large saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Stir in pasta and clams, stir and cover. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Divide pasta among plates and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Grind fresh pepper on top and serve,
Frankii Wuelfing says
I just had this idea pop into my head earlier today and I googled just to see if it existed in anyone else’s mind! I had been planning on making linguine with clam sauce for a while now but I figured why not try to incorporate my favorite boozy sauce instead! The breadcrumbs will be the cherry on top, so thanks for that addition…I cannot wait to make this tonight!!??
Frankii! I’m so glad you found my site and this recipe – let me know how it comes out for you! :)
Jamie says
Delish! This is a “keeper” recipe in our home.
Miss McBooty says
The boi and I are making a version of this soon. He makes amazing homemade noodles and I have some lobster that is begging to be drenched in vodka sauce. I can’t decide, however, if I should add clams with the lobster too. Any thoughts?
Kate says
Oh my gosh, YES! I actually made a version of this for Christmas Eve dinner this past year and I substituted langoustines (which are like little teeny lobster tails) for the clams and it was heaven! Make sure you do the bread crumb part…that makes it perfect. :)
Miss McBooty says
Will do!
Suzanne Perazzini says
I love the look of this because we eat lots of pasta, my husband being Italian, but we don’t have the same ingredients here in New Zealand. I’ve never heard of that sauce but I imagine it is a tomato sauce with vodka. I would also use fresh clams since they are plentiful here and I’m not sure if I could find the processed ones. I am sure I can adapt this so thanks for the idea.
Kate says
Suzanne, vodka sauce is tomato sauce with cream, herbs and yes, a little vodka…you could also make this with regular tomato sauce and it would be just fine. And of course it would be even better with fresh clams (although not as speedy.) :)
Joanne says
Haha I don’t think I’ve ever actually had fresh made vodka sauce since my parents always bought it from our local italian deli. :P I’ve also had it from a jar, of course, in college, when the cravings got to be uber intense. It was delicious, from what I remember and I’m betting this is even more so, with all your doctoring up!
Kate says
Definitely your chance – go for it!! :)
Kris @ www.everywhereorange.com says
this looks amazing!!! i love how simple this sounds and the shortcut with the jar sauce. Wegmans makes a vodka sauce that i have been wanting to try, but hubby wants homemade sauce all the time. this is my chance!!
Joyce says
I made this last night with the Wegmans sauce….so simple and easy. I’d never considered breadcrumbs on pasta before this blog….and what a great addition!
There is also a recipe here for “Pasta with Sweet Yellow Tomatoes” that is to die for. It’s all I can do to wait for the local yellow tomatoes to ripen.
Kate says
I’m so glad to know about the Wegman’s sauce! And yes, there’s something about breadcrumbs on pasta that is just plain perfect. :-)