White Clam Sauce

This is a recipe that I have no clue where it came from.  All I know is that my Mom made it too, so I can only assume it was originally from her.

It is a very simple recipe, one that you can easily pull off on a busy night with little time and very few ingredients.  I have the canned clams stocked in my cabinet,  so they are always available !  It’s great to have a stand by dish.

I serve it with plenty of parmesan cheese, crusty french bread to sop up the butter sauce and a nice tossed salad.

White Clam Sauce

3, 6-1/2 ounce cans of chopped clams

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tablespoons of butter

2 small garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon oregano (optional)

1/2 cup minced parsley (optional)

Drain clams, reserve liquid.

In 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, add butter and olive oil.  When mixture is hot add garlic (and oregano if using) and cook until garlic is lightly browned, stirring constantly (do not let the garlic burn).

Add clam juice and heat to boiling.  Then reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add clams and cook for a minute or so until clams (and parsley, if using) are heated through, stirring occasionally.

Serve over cooked pasta.

I also have added uncooked, peeled shrimp (8-10 shrimp or however many you want) when I add the clams.  The shrimp is cooked when it turns entirely pink.

My son and husband like ‘red’ clam sauce, so usually I heat up my Tomato Sauce and serve it with the White Clam Sauce, so they can add whatever they want.

Butter, olive oil and garlic simmering.

Clams that I use:

The original version:

Tomato sauce and shrimp version: