Spicy clam pasta
Ready in 30 minutes Serves 4-6
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
4 large tomatoes, cored and chopped or 400g cherry tomatoes in juice ½ cup dry white wine
3kg shellfish, rinsed and scrubbed (cockles, tuatuas, pipis or 2kg greenshell mussels)
500g dried linguine, bucatini or glutenfree alternative
2 Tbsp harissa
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pot over medium-low heat. Add garlic and lemon zest and sizzle for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes and ¼ cup water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer over lowest heat until tomatoes are pulpy (6 minutes).
Place the rinsed shellfish and the wine in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Cook, covered, over high heat, lifting the shellfish out of the pot and into a bowl as they open. Discard any shellfish that remain closed and set the pot aside (you’re going to use some of the cooking liquid later on). When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from most of the shells, discarding the empty shells. Place the meat and the cooked whole shellfish in a bowl with 1 cup of the shellfish cooking liquid. Discard the rest of cooking liquid. Both the shellfish and the tomato sauce can be prepared and chilled ahead to this point up to 24 hours before serving.
When ready to serve, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions.
Drain the cooked pasta and return to the cooking pot with the tomato sauce over high heat. Drain the liquid from the reserved cooked shellfish into the sauce, give it all a good stir and stir in the harissa. Cook for 1 minute.
Add all the reserved shellfish, parsley, and lemon juice cover and heat through for about 1 minute. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste (you may not need any salt).
Serve family style out of the large pot. NOTE: Any shellfish or even prawns would be delicious here. Rather than trying to get the timing right with between both shellfish and pasta, I prefer to cook the shellfish and the sauce ahead of time. This also makes for an easy last-minute assembly. I like to leave some of the cooked clams in the shells for the visual appeal they add to the dish but if you prefer you can remove all the shells and just use the flesh.