Red Clam Sauce

A 30-minute red clam sauce that uses pantry staples and canned clams to deliver big seafood flavor on a weeknight timeline. Onion and garlic saute in olive oil, then canned clams with their juice, tomato paste, water, lemon juice, parsley, rosemary, and thyme all go in for a 15-minute uncovered simmer.

The clam juice from the cans is doing most of the flavor work here. Mixed with tomato paste and water, it creates a briny, concentrated sauce that tastes like it simmered for hours. A teaspoon of sugar balances the acidity from the tomato paste, and the lemon juice brightens the whole thing right at the finish.

Toss this over cooked linguine with a grating of parmesan on top. The sauce should be loose enough to coat the pasta without pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Pro Tips

• Don’t drain the canned clams. The juice is packed with briny flavor and forms the base of the sauce.
• Simmer uncovered so the sauce reduces and concentrates. Covered simmering leaves it too watery for pasta.
• Add the clams with the rest of the sauce ingredients so they simmer gently. Canned clams are already cooked, so they just need to heat through and absorb flavor.
• Toss the sauce with the pasta in the skillet rather than ladling it on top. The pasta absorbs the sauce better when combined over heat.

Variations

• White clam sauce: Drop the tomato paste and water. Use only clam juice, olive oil, garlic, white wine, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
• Fresh clam upgrade: Use a pound of fresh littleneck clams steamed open in the sauce during the last 5 minutes.
• Spicy red clam: Add ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes with the garlic for a southern Italian kick.