Tag Archives: garlic

Dining, Recipes

Deluxe Linguine in Garlic Clam Sauce

Made one of the best linguine dishes I’ve ever made last night. The smell of garlic and butter perfumed the entire house–and the food tasted fabulous. Luckily for us, I only made 12 ounces of pasta or the fiance and I would have gorged ourselves past full.

30-40 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4-1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil (I used a canola/extra virgin olive oil pre-mix)
1 whole head of broccoli, chopped into small florets
4 oz button mushrooms, sliced
2 6.5 oz cans chopped clams, juice retained
12 oz packaged linguine
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (or more, depending on your heat tolerance)
cracked black pepper
dash of salt
dash of garlic powder
shredded parmesan cheese

Boil linguine for 8-9 minutes, until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat up olive oil and butter in deep frying pan over medium heat. Don’t allow butter to burn. Add chopped garlic and let it infuse the oil for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Drain clams, reserving clam juice. Add clams to garlic butter mixture and heat through. Stir in clam juice, then increase heat to medium-high. Add broccoli florets and saute until tender. Add mushrooms, and season with red pepper, black pepper, salt and garlic powder. (Salt optional since I feel clam juice has enough salt in it.) Remove from heat, and add linguine and mix thoroughly, making sure that the pasta is coated. Divvy up portions for 2-3 people, lightly sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Dining

Challenge: dining on a dollar…or two!

Hard times call for drastic measures. Budgets are tight, and I realize I have cabinets full of condiments and ingredients waiting to be used. I’ve decided that it’s time to get creative. Utilizing an intial budget of $10 a week, I am resolved to craft tasty meals for one person each day, based around the notion that if I have to spend anything on ingredients that day…it will not exceed $2. Because of sites like AllRecipes.com, I’m inspired to come up with some creative plates based on as few ingredients as possible, yet be healthy and filling. Who would have thought something like Pad Thai Noodles, Garlic Parmesan Macaroni and Fried Rice could be found from my own cupboards yet still be deliciously homey?

This week I spent a total of $11 at the local grocery store. Milk, eggs, 2 boxes of pasta, an onion, a bag of peas and carrots, a jar of Ragu tomato sauce, 2 heads of garlic, and 8oz of shredded parmesan. I already whipped up my standard fried rice based on one theme ingredient: a can of whole water chestnuts. It turned out like my typical fried rice (garlic, onions, eggs, peas and carrots, pepper, garlic salt, dash of fish sauce and sweet soy), except I’m thinking I should have sliced the chestnuts for a more homogenous crunch throughout. And being the type of person who ends up making more than usual, I have enough leftover for another day! Yay me!