Lisa's Dinnertime Dish: A Great Boating Trip and Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

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Last July my husband Steve and I took a completely impulsive, last minute trip out to California to visit our good friends, Steve and Joan. So as not to confuse you, my Steve is Steve H and Joan's Steve is Steve A.  Steve H was already on vacation and we had some tentative plans for the weekend, but nothing was set in stone. So Wednesday morning, Steve A called my Steve just to chat. He was talking about the great plans they had for the weekend. He and Joan have a boat and they were going to take the boat up to Santa Barbara for the weekend. Well....doesn't that sound like fun?  Steve A ended the conversation by saying we should really come out sometime and we had an open invitation.

     After Steve H hung up the phone, we started talking about Steve and Joan's plans and how fun that sounded. So I just threw it out there and said, "do you think we could get tickets to fly out there tomorrow?" We went on line and looked and sure enough, we could get two frequent flyer tickets for the next day. So after a couple of calls to Joan and Steve A and realizing that all the stars had aligned, we booked the tickets and the next evening we were at their house!

    We weren't leaving on the boating trip until the next morning, so we had dinner at their house that first evening. Joan is a wonderful cook and always makes cooking look effortless. This particular evening, she went into her pantry and came back with canned clams, a jar of pasta sauce and a box of pasta. In no time, she had whipped up a very tasty linguine with red clam sauce. It was a great meal to start off our weekend adventure! The boating trip was enormously fun and we all had a great time catching up with each other!

This is Joan and me (I'm the short one!)

I have been wanting to try her recipe since we got back, and finally I made it last night. It is my take on her recipe, however. She e-mailed me the recipe and somehow it got lost in cyberland?! But I think I remembered pretty well how she made it and it turned out pretty tasty. So here is my version of Joan's Linguine with Red Clam Sauce. It's a great recipe for a week night because it comes together very quickly. I made the sauce first and then let it simmer while the pasta water came to a boil and the pasta cooked.

Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

1 lb linguine, cooked according to package directions (I used whole wheat)
2 - 6 oz cans clams, juice reserved (I used whole and chopped them up, you could also used minced)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 cup white wine
4 cups marinara sauce (you can use jarred sauce)
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Grated parmesan for topping, if desired

Chop your vegetable. Drain the clams, reserving the juice and chop the clams if whole.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and red peppers and saute until onions are translucent and peppers are softened, about 5 minutes.