Friday, November 14, 2008

Lunch at Lino's - First Course

Our friend, Lino, is not a chef. He's just a guy who likes to cook for friends when he has the time. He likes to try new recipes and create food that's as nice to look at as it is to eat. We recently had lunch with his family and he cooked up a storm. In Italy, meals are served one course at a time. The first course is typically a pasta or rice dish, although it could also be a soup.

On this occasion, Lino prepared spaghetti with clams. Below, the clams are sizzling away in their own juice with some tomatoes and parsley.

The pasta should be cooked in a large quantity of salted water for the amount of time indicated on the package (every pasta has a different cooking time) and drained when "al dente" or just slightly firm. Overcooked pasta is considered a disaster!

Tomorrow, the second course...

11 comments:

USelaine said...

That looks fantastic! Now you have me thinking about lunch...

Cipro said...

Uno dei miei piatti preferiti!!!! L'hai mostrato davvero bene

nobu said...

Looks delicious!!
I like clam.
It is absolutely Oishii !!!!!

Maria Verivaki said...

absolutely delicious - really fresh clams are hard to find!

valeria said...

Great presentation Saretta! Yummy pasta! One of my top ten fav, ever!
Don't forget a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh parsley.
A variation? Add a few thin slices of an organinc lemon, cut in triangles...

Hilda said...

Vongole! My husband's favorite pasta sauce.

I better go home and have lunch (it's 1pm here right now). Didn't have breakfast either and your pics have just made me realize that I'm starving!

Pietro Brosio said...

A really inviting post, Saretta.
Yes, the pasta must be underdone, otherwise it's a catastrophe!!!

www.niamhphotography.com said...

wow, this looks right up my street....love those little shell fish

Brenda Campbell said...

This looks delicious!! Making me hungry for some pasta now...

Saretta said...

Personally, I'm not crazy about mollusks...but I can see that a lot of you are! I eat the spaghetti and leave the clams for my grateful family!

Ming the Merciless said...

Yummy!!!!