Recipe: Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce*

When it comes to Pasta Sauces, its seems like there are two kinds of people—those who like red sauce, which is generally full of vitamins and low in fat, and those who prefer white sauce (such as Alfredo).  Creamy sauces are obviously more fattening, but so delicious!  When I was a little girl, I remember my parents taking us for the first time to the “Old Spaghetti Factory” at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City. What an adventure! Everyone in my family ordered the red meat sauce—except me.  When I first tasted the Mizithra Cheese and Browned Butter Sauce and the White Clam Sauce (you could choose two sauces on one plate), I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Honestly, I loved this dish so much that when my husband and I were on our honeymoon in the big city of Salt Lake, I made him take me there for dinner twice, so that I could get my fill of my all-time favorite pasta dish.  Soon after we were married, I set out to recreate the Clam Sauce recipe.  Now, this was long before a few clicks of a keyboard could take one to multiple listings for “Copycat” restaurant recipes on the Internet.  Through trial and error, I came up with my own version of the Spaghetti Factory’s White Clam Sauce, and it’s been a family staple ever since.  It’s one of the few recipes I’ve ever created completely on my own—not by tinkering with someone else’s recipe, but an original (inspired by Spaghetti factory, of course).  A package of spaghetti and some canned clams and spices is about all you need to make this dish, so if you keep these ingredients on hand, you can make a really great spur of the moment meal your family will love.  

1 stick butter

3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Scant ½ teaspoon Oregano Leaves

½ teaspoon Sweet Basil Leaves

¼ teaspoon Thyme leaves

¼ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

½ teaspoon Dried Parsley Flakes (or fresh if you have it)

¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Salt

Level ½ cup Flour

Heaping ½ cup Parmesan Cheese (the kind you sprinkle out of a can)

1 Can Evaporated Milk plus enough regular milk to total about 4 cups

2 Cans Snows Chopped (not minced) Clams with juice

24 oz. Spaghetti, cooked in salted water, drained and rinsed in hot water - don’t overcook.

In medium sized saucepan, melt butter and add spices and garlic.  Whisk in flour and stir until smooth.  Slowly add milk mixture and clams with juice, stirring until thickened and bubbly, adjusting the milk as needed for desired thickness.  Add Parmesan Cheese. Serve over hot spaghetti.

OR, to make ahead as a casserole . . .

Place cooked Spaghetti in buttered oblong glass casserole dish.  Pour Clam Sauce over (poke a butter knife here and there to help the sauce run down into the spaghetti) and sprinkle with additional Parmesan Cheese.   Bake at 350 to 375 until heated through and bubbly and browned slightly on top.  Cut into squares to serve.  Serves 6 to 8.

*Originally distributed February 2014