Spaghetti Chitarra w/ Clams & Sausage by Jimmy Papadopoulos
45 minutes prep, 90 minutes total
Ingredients:
'Nduja Sofrito
- 1 Yellow Onion
- 2 Roma Tomatoes, halved
- 4 Garlic Cloves, peeled & thinly sliced
- Bay Leaves
- 6 oz. 'Nduja Sausage
- 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Paprika, smoked
- Salt
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 18-36 Clams
- 2 tbsp Butter, unsalted
- 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
- 4 Garlic Cloves, peeled & thinly sliced
- Thyme, 4 sprigs
- 1 cup Fire Roasted Tomatoes, canned, diced & drained
- 2 cups White Wine, dry Chardonnay is best
Breadcrumbs
- 1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
- 1 stick Butter, unsalted
- 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Final Touches
- 1 lb Spaghetti Chitarra, any spaghetti will do
- 1 stick Butter, unsalted
- 1/4 cup Parsley, minced
- 1/4 cup Mint, torn
- 1 Lemon, juiced
- 1 Lemon, for zest
Cooking Instructions
FOR THE ‘NDUJA SOFRITO:
- Heat a medium sized sauté pan over medium heat – add the onions, bay leaf and olive oil. Cook for about 25 minutes, stirring often until onions reach a light golden color.
- Add the garlic & smoked paprika – cook for additional 45 seconds – season to taste with salt and sugar.
- Add the ‘Nduja, stir to break up the sausage and render its fat for and additional 10-15 minutes.
- Taste – adjust seasoning if needed – transfer to tall narrow vessel – allow to settle and skim off 3⁄4 of the rendered fat & reserve for cooking the clams. *Reserve sofrito until ready to assemble pasta
FOR THE BREADCRUMBS:
- Heat a medium sized sauté pan over medium heat – add olive oil & butter. Once the butter has melted – stir in the bread crumbs.
- Continue to stir until the breadcrumbs have evenly toasted to a nice rich brown color.
- Turn breadcrumbs onto a plate lined with a few paper towels to drain excess oil - season lightly with salt.
- Reserve breadcrumbs at room temperature in air-tight container lined with paper towels until ready to serve.
FOR THE CLAMS:
- Heat a large sized sauté pan over medium-high heat – add reserved sofrito oil & butter. Once the butter has melted – add the washed clams, shallots, garlic, thyme, diced tomatoes – stir for 30 seconds add the white wine and cover with lid immediately.
- It should take about 2-3 minutes for the clams to open – once they are open turn the heat off and remove each clam from the liquid to a plate and allow to cool until able to handle.
- Begin removing each clam from its shell and transferring to a bowl. Reserve all liquid and passing through a strainer. Discard shells.
- Once the clams have been shucked – allow the cooking liquid to cool to room temperature and cover the shucked clams with their liquid and reserve until ready to assemble.
TO ASSEMBLE PASTA:
- Heat a large pot of water to cook the pasta – season the water to a tolerable level of salinity *much like the salt level of a soup/broth.
- Heat a large sauté pan or another pot (large enough to comfortably hold a pound of cooked pasta) over medium heat.
- Add the sofrito until hot.
- Begin cooking the pasta to the packages stated time – take 2 minutes off the recommended cooking time.
- Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid – strain the pasta.
- *Working quickly so the pasta does not stick while finishing the sauce; increase the heat under the sofrito to high, stir in half of the pasta water, add the diced butter and stir to emulsify
- Add the clams and their cooking liquid.
- Stir in the pasta and cook until sauce slightly tightens and coats the pasta.
- Season with lemon juice - taste & adjust seasoning if needed.
- Shower pasta with parsley, torn mint, bread crumbs & fresh lemon zest. ENJOY!
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