Honestly I have never thought about cooking clams for Christmas dinner.  But why not?  I mean, why go for the overrated spaghetti Bolognese, carbonara or lasagna?  This easy-to-cook slightly spicy pasta dish is just as good and will definitely look great on your dinner table.

What to serve with this pasta dish?  I am thinking bacon-wrapped asparagus or prosciutto wrapped grissinis or Parmesan breadsticks.

Ingredients:
Approx. 500g littleneck clams (NZ cockles), cleaned
1/4 cup cooking wine (as I didn’t have white wine)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 dry chili, chopped (seeds discarded)
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt
500g fettuccine pasta (spaghetti or linguine)
Bacon bits (garnish – optional)

Throw clams into a hot deep pan over high heat. Add cooking wine and close with a lid. Cook, shaking the pan, until the clams are open. Transfer the clams in a separate bowl. Strain liquid into a fine sieve and reserve.

Start boiling salted water to cook pasta. Meanwhile take about 12 pieces of clam meat. Chop and reserve. Chop the garlic, chili and parsley. As I have big clam shells, I decided to remove all clam meat from the shells. (You don’t have to do this if you have little ones.)

Heat olive oil in the same pan over medium heat. Throw in garlic and chili and saute until fragrant. Stir in chopped clams. Then add the rest of the clam meat. Add the reserved clam juice and turn the heat to high. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat. Stir in chopped parsley and season with a bit of salt. Pasta should be cooked al dente by this time. Add pasta and toss to combine.

Serve and enjoy.

Below is a plate of left-over I had for lunch the next day – served with succulent pan-fried squid rings and bacon bits.

Iska

I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.