西式| 餐: Spaghetti with Clams

[2009/2/27] I bought some fresh clams from Costco today for $3/lb and thought it will nice to cook spaghetti with clams. These long-neck clams are from Cedar Key, Florida. They came in a big 5lb bag. Good that I have one more toothbrush and my brother could help me to clean them. Half of them was use to make spaghetti tonight, and it was good. We will use the rest of them for Chinese Stir-Fry Clams in Chili Black Bean Sauce tomorrow.

Ingredients(Serves 4-5):
Spaghetti, 1 box
Clams, 2-2.5 pounds
Some: Butter, Olive Oil, Minced Garlic, White Wine, Fresh Grounded Black Pepper, Dried Chile Pepper or Red Pepper Flakes, Chopped parsley

Steps:
1) Put the clams in a big pot of water fulled with some salt. Scrubbed the clams thoroughly with toothbrush. Keep them in water until you are ready to cook them.
2) Wash the whole buckle of clams to clean out the dirt collected in the bottom.
3) To cook the spaghetti: Bring a large pot of water with salt and oil to boil; Cook pasta underdone as they will be added to the clams to saute later on; Drain pasta and reserve some pasta water (1 - 2 cups depends on how much sauce you want and size of serving).
4) To cook the clams: Heat a large skillet or pot with oil in medium heat; Add garlic and chile pepper and cook until semi-golden; Add clams and raise the heat to high; Add white wine, cover it with lid and bring it to boil; Cook until the clams are open; Stir in parsley and transfer them in a bowl.
5) Combine them: Use another skillet and set heat to high; Add pasta water, clams juice, and lemon juice in the skillet and cook until the sauce is thickened but still watery; Remove the skillet from heat and mix in a slice of butter; Add clam and spaghetti to the skillet and cook in low heat so that the spaghetti absorb sauce and become perfectly cooked.
6) Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish the dish with parsley.

Tips:
* In step 5, make sure the clams juice that you add to the finish cooking doesn't contain any sand.
* Don't add too much chili pepper, lemon juice, and parsley, otherwise they will overpower the dish and the fresh taste of clams.