Back for Now

I actually did a bit of cooking this weekend...just a bit. My motivation is starting to come back and my mind is beginning to think about what new recipe I can try next. I have a Nigella cupcake recipe sitting on my kitchen counter hoping for a hurricane day. We are possibly getting one tomorrow- an itty, bitty one that is small enough to be of no concern but big enough to hopefully close work. A and I have survived several larger category three storms since we've been here and lucked out. So, a category one hurricane is really just a holiday for us. Hey, we tend to be optimistic.

On Friday, I finally had the urge to get myself into the kitchen. I decided to do something similar to this pasta recipe. I changed it up a bit, but it's still similar. It was very, very good. I wasn't sure how the canned clams would turn out, but it was really a great buy. If you don't like clams, this recipe would be tasty with shrimp too, or skip the seafood and just use an additional sausage.




Sausage and Clam Linguine
adapted from Foodandwine.com

1 package linguine
1 small can of clams (in salt and water only, no preservatives or additives), drained but saving 2 tbsp
2 tbsp of the clam water from can
2 small spicy turkey sausages (spicy Italian, chorizo, or similar), uncased
1 small onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1-1 1/2 cup good white wine
2 tbsp butter
1/2- 1 cup reserved cooked pasta water
juice from half a lemon
olive oil
dried basil
fresh parsley
salt and pepper
lemon wedges for serving

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a large pan or skillet, uncase the turkey sausage and brown until cooked thoroughly. You may need to had a drizzle of olive oil since turkey sausage tends to be very lean. Once cooked, remove the sausage from the pan. Add another drizzle of olive oil to brown onion and garlic (add the garlic once the onion is partly cooked to avoid burning). After onion and garlic are browned and soft, add in the white wine, reserved clam water, some salt and pepper, and dried basil. Make sure you pick up the bits from the bottom of the pan. After cooking down the liquid for about 5-1o minutes , add in clams and butter. Simmer on low for another 5 minutes. Slowly add in reserved pasta water until you have a sauce-like consistency.Toss cooked pasta together with sauce, fresh lemon juice, and parsley. Drizzle a bit more olive oil if needed. Serve with a generous sprinkling of shredded Parmesan or Romano and a lemon wedge.