LINGUINI WITH WHITE CLAM SAUCE

In a large skillet with sides, melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add the olive oil to the melted butter.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add the wine, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, letting the juices reduce down.  Add the chopped clams, with their juices, to the pan and cook 3-4 minutes more, stirring frequently.

Combine the milk and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk to dissolve the cornstarch.  Pour the mixture into the clams and stir, continuing to cook for another 2-3 minutes letting the sauce thicken.

Place the littleneck clams into the sauce and cover the pan.  Cook until the clams are opened, about 6-8 minutes.

Stir in the basil.  Serve the sauce over the linguini with parmesan on the side for sprinkling.

Homemade Pasta

Combine the flour and salt and place on the counter in a large mound.  Create a ‘well’ in the center of the flour.  Crack eggs into the well and add olive oil.

Using a fork, scramble the eggs and slowly begin to add the flour from the sides of the well.  When about half of the flour is incorporated and a soft dough as formed, begin kneading with your hands and incorporate the rest of the flour until you have one cohesive ball.  Knead for 8 more minutes.  Let rest at room temperature for 1 hour or in the fridge for longer.

Take small pieces of the dough (about the size of a deck of cards) and put through the pasta sheet attachment of your KitchenAid mixer beginning with the setting on “1” and continuing to put the sheets back through on each level up to “5”.  You can also hand-roll the dough in a very thin sheet that is almost see-through.  Keep the dough well-floured and put a layer of flour between each sheet before cutting to pasta.

Using the linguini cutting attachment on the KitchenAid, put each sheet through the cutter forming strips.  Make sure you pasta sheets are about a foot long so your noodles are a reasonable length (unless your plan is to reenact the Lady & the Tramp spaghetti scene).  You can also cut each sheet into strips by hand (but KitchenAid is sooo much easier overall).

Cook pasta in boiling salted water for about 2-3 minutes until pasta floats to the top and al dente doneness.  You can also freeze the pasta if you are not cooking it right away.