After the perfect summer weekend, I am feeling so ready for the week! How about you? I can’t think of a better recipe to kick the first full week of June off with than this mushroom and clam pasta. I know that salads are much more of a Monday thing, but you guys know me, when it comes to food, I don’t do the expected. So pasta on Monday! Over the weekend I spent most of Saturday working and brainstorming new summer recipes. I seem to be very into fruit based desserts this summer: zucchini, corn, pizza, pasta, salads, and stone fruit. All of the recipes coming up this month include at least one very summery ingredient. I am so excited. I am also very excited for tomatoes. Specifically heirloom tomatoes. They’re my favorite and I can’t wait until they start showing up at the farm stand. I’m trying my hardest to hold off a bit on the burst of tomato recipes I’m dying to share, until tomatoes really start to come into season. Our local farm stand, which sells my favorite heirloom cherry tomatoes, will not open until mid to late June. So until then, I will be patiently waiting for those tomatoes to arrive… While I am waiting, it’s all about the ingredients I do have, fresh herbs, mushrooms, and sweet corn…and clams and pasta.
Enter this buttery clam filled bucatini pasta. Oh my gosh. YOU GUYS. This pasta is too good for words. It’s a bowl full of summery carbs. If you love clams, you will love this recipe. It’s also a thirty minute dinner that’s made (almost) entirely in one pan. Meaning it’s easy and quick…and the perfect Monday night dinner. Obviously.
Let’s talk recipe details. It all starts with the pasta. I use bucatini, because it’s my current pasta obsession, but you can totally use your favorite long cut pasta. It’s classic to do linguine and clams, if that’s more your thing, but personally? I love how the hole running down through the middle of the bucatini fills with sauce. It makes every bite delicious. Start off by boiling your pasta and reserving some of that pasta cooking water for the sauce. While the pasta is cooking, get started on the mushrooms. Here’s the thing, this recipe has two key ingredients, mushrooms and clams. For the mushrooms, I love a good wild mushroom, but creminis would be great here too. The really important thing is caramelizing the mushrooms with a little olive oil before adding anything else to them. This step will give the mushrooms and the pasta sauce so much good flavor. So caramelize! Once the mushrooms are ready, you’ll simply add all of the following ingredients to the pan: butter, sweet corn, a little garlic, and fresh herbs. Then add white wine and the clams, cook for a little until the clams open up, add the pasta, toss, and you’re done. Pretty simple, but yet so fresh and so good.
I found the mushrooms to be the ultimate paring with the clams. The buttery savory flavors are perfect with the combination of pasta and fresh seafood. If you wanted to add a touch more greens, finishing the bowls off with a few handfuls of fresh baby arugula or dandelion greens would be extra delicious, and pretty too. Try serving this up with a summery salad like this stone fruit panzanella salad, this vegan Caesar salad, or even just a simple garden green salad. And maybe a Monday night glass of wine… Hey it’s summer, so I feel like anything goes. We have to really enjoy these days while they’re here. Live it up guys!
If you make this buttery mushroom and clam pasta, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you. Oh, and of course, if you do make this, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Pasta, seafood, and wine, my kind of Monday night. Enjoy!
