How to Cook Pasta | Easy Shell Pasta with Clam Sauce

Let’s make “Marry Me” shell pasta with clam sauce. It’s quick, easy, and delicious! Simple enough for a weeknight, and impressive enough for date night.

What You’ll Need:• Pasta shells (mini or medium)• 1 can chopped clams (or fresh if you prefer)• Butter (about 2 tbsp)• 1 yellow onion, minced• Garlic (minced + sliced)• Lemon juice• White wine (or vinegar/lemon substitute)• Salt & pepper• Fresh parsley

Timestamps:0:00 – Intro: “Marry Me Pasta” explained0:50 – How to salt your pasta water1:25 – Why you shouldn’t put oil in your pasta water3:00 – Making the sauce: butter, onion & garlic4:45 – Adding clams, lemon & white wine8:30 – Tossing it all together9:50 – Final plating & taste test

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This is a marry me pasta. Tell me this is going to cook quick. Lights a fire under your We dump, we mix, we quick and easy. [Laughter] So, I’m going to make pasta shells with clam sauce. So, you get it like a little nautical theme, right? Shells and clams. This is such a great shape. These are the mini the little shells and they’re so great. They trap like, you know, stuff like bologign sauce, clams, whatever in the crevices and that just makes delicious dinner. And these cook quickly. So, I want to make a sauce and by the time the sauce is done, the pasta is cooked. We dump, we mix, we that’s what I like, quick and easy. So, I’ve got my pasta water and it kind of, you know, lights a fire under your If you put the pasta in the water, you’re like, I got to get the sauce on cuz the pasta is cooking. So, I’ve got my boiling water. My water is not salted. I bring water to a boil with a cover and then I salt it. If you salt your water and then boil it, yes, the salt makes it boil faster, but it can reduce and become overs salted. And I can tell I’m going to get some comments. Water boiling, bubbling, kosher salt, handful in there. You got to season your pasta water. We’re seasoning. So, I mix it to make sure the salt dissolves. Just a little taste. Run your finger along the spoon and taste. It should taste salty. Not quite like sea water, but salty. Now, oil in the pasta water. Oh my god. Do not put olive oil. Do not put any oil. Do not put avocado oil or nectar of the gods that the queen of England gave you on a cruise. Don’t put any oil in your pasta water. Why? Because when you put the oil in the pasta water and then you cook it and you drain it, the oil sticks to the pasta. And what happens? It’s like putting on suntan lotion. and jumping into the pool. It makes absolutely no sense. The sauce slides off the pasta cuz it’s coated with oil. We want that sauce we made to go right on that pasta. And besides which, olive oil is expensive. You’re going to drain the pasta water and pour all that oil down the drain. Crazy. Do you know it takes 9 lb of olives to make one liter of olive oil? 9 lb. You’re going to pour that down the drain. No. Salted water, shells, boiling. Instantly give your pasta a stir. The sheer act of the boiling water and the salt will assure that your pasta is not sticking. And just give it a stir. And honestly, I boil my pasta water covered, but then I take the cover off so I can watch the pasta cooking. So, we’ll put the cover off to the side. And now, we’re going to start on our sauce. We had some of that garlic that we minced, a few cloves, and I’m going to actually add a few more that I slice up. Sometimes I really like the different shapes of garlic, right? The minced garlic kind of really permeating the sauce and then the larger slices of garlic for texture. Okay, I’ve got maybe couple cloves minced and say three cloves, medium cloves just sliced up. Okay, we’ll save those first. With clams, I really like butter. Just a little bit of butter. Right, we’ll just get that going in the bottom of the pan. one yellow onion minced. You know, it’s kind of funny how the kitchen is. This is my dad’s favorite kitchen towels and my mom’s wooden spoon. So, they’re not with me anymore, but it’s funny how being a chef and cooking, your parents can still be with you. Little salt right on the onion. What does this salt do here? It brings the water out as you’re cooking something. We want to do that cuz when we’re cooking, we want the liquid to emerge from food and leave us with a less watery, tastier ingredient. Got that onion. I’m just giving the onion and a little bit of butter just a minute. And you see my my pan is hot, but it’s not, you know, crazy hot. Just enough so that butter is melting. Now, keep an eye on that pasta. Again, we stir. See how I’m making sure? Nice and easy. It’s just not sticking. Salt, onion, little butter, sliced garlic, minced garlic right in there. M. I don’t know about you, but pasta with clams and garlic, sign me up. Just for a second, put the onions and garlic. And again, I’m not looking to really brown this, right? I kind of want this to be nice and easy. Just so good in butter. Not too much. You see it’s not greasy. I got some leftover wine in the door in my fridge. Little splash. [Music] That was about a chef’s half a cup. So, like a cup. And we’re just simmering. So good. I’ve got that wine. Now, look. Don’t add any other liquid. Don’t add anything. When you add wine to a sauce, let it cook out. Otherwise, it’s going to taste like somebody spilled their wine in your sauce. You don’t want that. Now, alcohol. When you’re cooking with alcohol, the alcohol never fully cooks out. So, if you’re somebody who doesn’t want to cook with alcohol, leave out the white wine and just put a splash of vinegar in its place or a squeeze of lemon juice cuz even when you reduce alcohol, it never fully fully cooks out. You just want to get it to a place where it’s balanced. Now, I’ve got the heat up high. You see? And let’s get ready. I’ve got a can of clams and they’re liquid. You could use fresh clams. I love them. I got to tell you, these canned shelled chopped clams so good. And this is like becomes a pantry dish, right? I love fresh clams. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m going add a little lemon. Just a hair. Mhm. Starting to smell like a red sauce joint in here. Now, the acidity from the lemon is really not that strong. You’d be surprised. It’s really acidity from things like white wine and vinegar that are more impactful. I lift my pasta up and I just kind of touch it. Even just by touching it, you can tell whether it’s cooked or not. This got another minute or two. I’d say we added about a tablespoon of butter in there. I’m going to add just another scotch. This is for a pound of pasta. So, a tablespoon and a half or two of butter. Really not a big deal. You see that white wine and that butter cooking? Stop it. Just stop being so good. Maybe a little pepper. Should we put some Let’s put some pepper in there. You see how it’s starting to change, right? That reduced white wine, that butter. My mother’s favorite pasta dish growing up was this. She went to a restaurant once and she got it with fresh clams and she was eating it and she was like biting on so much sand and grit inside the clam. She sent it back and the server came back to the table and he goes, “The chef tasted your dish in the kitchen and he says it’s not sandy at all.” And my mom was like, “Maybe he wants to pay my bill.” Still, this was my mom’s favorite dish. Very nostalgic for me. Reminds me of her. That wine’s nice and reduced. This pasta is almost there. Notice how every couple of minutes I touch it, but I’m always giving the pasta a little bit of attention. Clams liquid right in there. So meaty, so delicious. Dot more butter. Look at that. I know. I feel like canned tuna is like the reigning pantry item, but a can of chopped or little shelled clams, I don’t know. It might be the winner for me. Now, you want to kind of get in here right now, right? Just snake a knife or whatever and just taste. The clams are naturally salty, so you want to be careful. Just going to add a pinch of salt. I can always add more. Now, I’d like to take the pasta out, say 1 minute before. And I think maybe let’s just see. When I think they’re done, one on the board. Al dente means it’s got tooth on it. Pretty good. Now, I want to warm the pasta in here for a minute. So, I’m going to take them out right out of there. And colander, sink, whatever. I just drain. I like that it’s two pans on the stove, right? the rest of it. Feel like Bob Ross, you know, the painter guy. Snow on the cedars. Right in there. Maybe a dot more butter. We just added a pound of pasta. And we just stirred to coat. Can you smell this? Can you come in here and smell this? See those clams right going in there. And that little bit of butter. Not too much. And then we’re going to just add that parsley right in there. Just some chopped parsley. Quite a bit, by the way. Don’t be cute. You got a bunch of parsley in the bottom of the crisper dying in the wings waiting to be loved like I did. The whole thing in there. You could do scallions. Look at that. That grassy parsley in there. I’d love to tell you you could use anything, but I really think parsley is the best. Here, look at that. Come on. We added white wine. I’m going to add even a little more lemon. Now, look, you can mince up some garlic and add it in here and still think it’s not enough. If you don’t, you can always add a little bit of garlic powder out of your spice drawer just to bring it up. I even think, look, it’s kind of dry. Just a hair. So, I’m going just steal a little of that pasta water. We’ll add a little more butter, a little more lemon. Now, I know you’re thinking, I added lemon, I added wine. I add just a little bit of apple cider just a hair like apple cider vinegar just to amp up that acidity a little bit. The lemon is the driving force with the white wine. And then the most important part of all, honestly, is to let this when it’s cooked like this and it’s Oh, yeah. And when it’s ready, shut it off and let it sit for a minute. And I know you’re starving and you’re annoyed like I don’t want to stop. I just want to eat it. Let’s just let it sit for a second and hang out and let all these clams be like, “You come here often.” You know what I’m saying? Look at that. And there’s that dish and see how it is. Just get right in there. Little bit of parsley, a little clam. See how the clams are trapped inside the shells? That’s why the shape of the pasta and what you cook it with matters so much. M. Mhm. Good. You know what? It needs a little pepper. You got to taste cuz you got to adjust. I’ve been cooking forever and I never get it right. You stir little bit of that pepper in there. Now look, I could add the rest of this stick of butter. You know when no one’s looking and you like want to impress and it’s date night, add the rest of the stick and the person will be like, “This is so good. Marry me.” They don’t have to know. This is a marry me pasta. And the sauce and the pasta meet together and that’s dinner. Quick and easy. Excuse me while I ate the salt