Recipe: Linguine with White Clam Sauce

I remember my momma making this growing up. It seemed like such a treat considering how poor we were back then. But now I know why...it's fancy AND it's relatively cheap! I haven't made this in years and just remembered it out of the blue last week and suddenly got a huge craving! I pulled it straight out of the classic red and white Betty Crocker cookbook.



Ingredients

8 ounces dried linquine*
2 6 1/2 oz cans minced clams
Half-and-half, cream, or milk*
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T margarine or butter (I used olive oil)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour*
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (I forgot to buy this!)
1/4 cup dry white wine**
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese*


Instructions:

1. Cook linguine. Drain; keep warm.
   
2. Meanwhile, strain juice from canned clams and save 1 can's worth of juice. Add enough half-and-half, cream, or milk to clam juice to equal 2 cups.
   
3. For sauce, cook onion and garlic in margarine or butter until tender, but not brown. Stir in flour, oregano, salt and pepper until well coated. Add milk/clam juice mixture all at once. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Cook for one more minute. Stir in clams, parsley, and wine. Heat through. Serve over warm linguine. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
   

* I used gluten-free pasta, gluten-free flour and soy-milk in my subsitutions. I left off the Parmesan cheese from mine, but N loved it.

** Since I can't have alcohol, I searched a bit for some wine substitutions. I read somewhere that using lemon flavored mineral water worked. So I tried it. It was...meh...okay. So I put in a splash of lemon juice. A little better! While this works in a pinch, I still wish I had a sauvignon blanc to use. I'll do this the right way when non-preggers, but it worked for this momma's craving.

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