Shrimp and littleneck clams simmered in a spicy lobster tomato sauce and tossed with linguine. It's built around one jar of sauce.
My recipe, in the North End style of Daily Catch, made with a jar of their lobster tomato sauce. Any good jarred seafood or marinara sauce works, and you can add a little extra chili.
At a glance
Seafood goes in last
10 minPrep
20 minCook
4Servings
1 jarSauce
–kcal / serving
–Protein
–B12
–Sodium
What makes it work
Bloom the garlic and chili in oil, but don't brown the garlic
Clams go in first, shrimp last, and only for 2–3 minutes
Finish the pasta in the sauce with a splash of pasta water
Prep. Bring a big pot of water to a boil and salt it well. Scrub the clams. Tap any that are open: if one doesn't close, throw it out. Pat the shrimp dry and salt them lightly.
Bloom the aromatics. In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil with the garlic and pepper flakes until the garlic sizzles and turns pale gold, about 1 minute. Don't let it brown.
Wine, then sauce. Add the wine and let it bubble down by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in the whole jar of sauce and simmer 5 minutes. Drop the pasta now and cook it 1 minute short of the package time.
Clams. Add the clams to the sauce, cover, and cook 5–7 minutes, until they open. Mussels take 3–5. Throw out any that stay shut.
Shrimp. Push the shrimp into the sauce between the clams and cook 2–3 minutes, until pink and curled into a loose C. A tight O means overcooked.
Toss. Lift the pasta straight into the skillet with ½ cup of its cooking water. Toss over the heat for a minute until the sauce coats every strand. Off the heat, stir in the butter, lemon juice and parsley. Taste for chili and salt.
Want it richer? Add a split lobster tail with the clams. It needs about 6–8 minutes, covered.
Nutrition per serving
This is calculated from the same USDA data as Build a Day. Change the shellfish or the pasta here:
Shellfish
Base
% of the daily target for men (the same targets as Build a Day). ~ = mostly estimated. The sauce is a placeholder: USDA's ready-to-serve marinara stands in for the Daily Catch jar until I have its label. 2 lb of littlenecks is counted as about 5 oz of clam meat, and 2 lb of mussels as 8 oz. The salt the pasta absorbs from its water isn't counted, and neither is the alcohol that cooks off.
Nutrition notes
Clams are the most B12-dense food there is
Cooked clams carry about 99 µg of vitamin B12 per 100 g, more than any other food in USDA's data. That's 40 times the daily target. This bowl's share of clam meat, about 1¼ oz per serving, still delivers more than ten days' worth. Your body stores B12 in the liver for years, so a clam dinner every week or two keeps you well stocked. The B12 page explains why that matters for energy, nerves and methylation. Shrimp, clams and scallops are all on the FDA's lowest-mercury list. (Strong: USDA composition and FDA/EPA monitoring data)
Most of the sodium in this dish comes from two places: the clams, which USDA lists at about 1,200 mg per 100 g cooked, and the sauce. Jarred tomato sauces run roughly 350 to 600 mg of sodium per half cup, and some list soybean oil or sugar early in the ingredients. The panel uses a generic marinara for now, so check your jar's label for the real numbers. A sauce made from tomatoes, olive oil and lobster stock needs nothing else. The pasta water should still be well salted, because that's what seasons the noodles. Less than you'd think ends up in the bowl. (Placeholder: replace with the jar's label)