Clams Casino Spaghetti

Clams Casino Spaghetti

Clams Casino Spaghetti is a fusion between the classic appetizer, clams casino, and clams and linguine or in this case spaghetti.  This dish came about when I was planning to make a quick spicy red clam sauce when I thought that a red bell pepper might be a nice contrast to the hot peppers the sauce.  And then I thought that that the addition of bacon would bring the flair of clams casino to the dish.  

What a fantastic combination.  You can't go wrong when you start out with a classic combination of flavors.  But the best part about this one is that most of the ingredients come straight from the pantry shelves.   Who couldn’t use a few good recipes like this for those times when unexpected guests drop by.   

Clams Casino Spaghetti

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 12 min

Ingredients 

• 8 oz of gluten free spaghetti 
• 10 oz can of whole baby clams, drained with the clam juice reserved
• 6 ½ oz can minced clams, drained with the clam juice reserved
• 2 slices of thick cut bacon sliced into small strips
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained 
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

Video Tutorial: 

Instructions 

1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil for the spaghetti. 
2. In a large skillet sauté the bacon until it’s crispy then remove it from the pan and drain off the excess grease. 
3. Begin cooking the spaghetti according to the package instructions and continue with the sauce. 
4. Add the olive oil, pepper strips and garlic to the same pan that previously fried the bacon pan and sauté over a medium heat for about 4 minutes or until the peppers and garlic begin to soften and just start to develop some color. 
5. Add the clams and tomatoes with diced chilies to the pan and sauté for another 3 minutes before adding the clam juice and letting everything simmer together for 3-5 minutes or until the spaghetti is one minute shy of the package instructions. 
6. Just before adding the pasta to the pan with the sauce, add the butter and Italian seasoning and stir to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste then add both the spaghetti and bacon and stir over a medium low heat until all of the strands of spaghetti are nicely coated in sauce then serve.