This is what I call "Midwestern Spaghetti with Clam Sauce", which means you only need access to canned clams and dried parsley rather than fresh.. It's quick, easy, and a good reason to keep some canned clams in the pantry!

Midwestern Spaghetti with Clam Sauce

• One big 4-5 quart pot for cooking spaghetti
• One large sauté pan
• 2 10 oz cans of baby clams, drained (save the liquid!)
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1-4 cloves of sliced garlic (depending on how much you like garlic-I like lotsa)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 bottle of clam juice (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup Good Italian Tomato Sauce (make it yourself, or look for one that doesn't have corn syrup or sugar as filler-read the label)
• 1/4 red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 pound of spaghetti (or linguine/spagettini)

Get three quarts of water boiling in a big pot. This is what you will be cooking your pasta in.

Heat up the olive oil on medium heat and add the garlic and onion. Cook 2 minutes, watching to make sure that it doesn't get more than a little brown (garlic can burn, and once burned turns bitter. If it burns, toss everything and start over).

Add the red pepper flakes and cook another minute. Careful with your eyes-the fumes that come off can make them water and burn).

Add the white wine and cook another minute. Be careful, you are adding liquid to hot oil, so add slowly and let the alcohol start to cook off.

Add the tomato sauce, clam juice (both the stuff that you saved from the can and the bottle), and the parsley. and bring it all to a boil.

Reduce the heat so that it simmers, cover and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.

While letting sauce cook, throw your noodles in the boiling water of the pasta pot. The idea is to have the sauce and the noodles finish at the same time.

After your sauce has cooked 4-5 minutes, add the clams to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover.

Now the magic moment. When your pasta is just done, drain it and put it back in the pot. Add the sauce. Mix it well and cook it over medium heat for 2 minutes. This lets the spaghetti absorb the sauce.

Serve out of the pot or (for more elegance/authenticity) in a big, wide, flat pasta bowl.

Serve with hot, crusty Italian or French bread. Don't use butter or margarine-drizzle with a little of that good extra-virgin olive oil both for health reasons and for authentic flavor!