Some thoughts on Sofia's meals

One of the joys of writing The Summer Springsteen's Songs Saved me was including some meals that I thought Sofia and Sammy might enjoy. Since she's Italian-American (like me) she has a number of pasta recipes up her sleeve. Sofia cooks pasta with clams one night, and pasta with lobster sauce on another. Both of these meals were staples in my home growing up.

My brother and I would take our rowboat out and hunt for clams in much the same way that Sammy, Sofia, and Billy did. We clammied in the Great South Bay, back when the mollusks were abundant. After hauling in a bushel or two we'd head home where we set up a "clams for sale" stand. No lemon-aid stand for us! That clam stand was quite popular.

I don't have a written down recipe for the linguine with clams, but I can tell you how we made it. For two people you can shuck 18 to 24 clams. A tip: put them in the freezer if they are too hard to open. Be sure to save the juice. Coat the bottom of a saucepan with lite extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle some oregano on top. Peel two cloves of garlic. Heat the oil and blonde the garlic. Important! Do not brown the garlic! Add in the clams and their juice and a shake or two of red pepper if you like heat. Cook for a few minutes.

This is enough for a half pound to a pound of pasta. And for cooking pasta for two people, to me nothing beats the Fasta Pasta! I know it's probably heresy to admit I like this thing, and I do still have my old light weight aluminum pot for when I am cooking large amounts of pasta, but for two people this microwave friendly cooker really can't be beat.

Once the pasta is cooked, you drain and then place in a bowl and add your sauce. It's yummy time.

That's all there is to it!