Doc’s Healthy Dinner Recipe: Pasta with Clams

Ingredients

• Avocado oil
• Elephant ear garlic 1 large and 1 small head, chopped
• 1 small, mild red pepper, chopped
• Chinese Eggplants – 1-2 young ones
• Fresh Thyme – 3 sprigs
• Fresh Purple basal – 3 or 4 sprigs (1 or 2 in water with pasta)
• Lemon grass 2 – pieces
• Sage bud
• Pinch lavender
• Pinch rosemary
• Salt
• Pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Chives
• 20 to 24 clams (you can substitute chicken breasts or fish)
• Clam Juice or Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock, ¼ to ½ cup
• Pea pasta from CardioMender, MD
• 1-2 lemons
• Vegetable of your choice to steam

Directions

• Sauté first 14 ingredients, starting with garlic.
• When all are soft, add clams.
• Add quarter cup water, clam juice or stock, half lemon squeezed and then add the lemon.
• Sauté until clams open.

• While sautéing, prepare pea pasta: 12 min in boiling water with salt, olive oil, purple basal.
• Strain pasta when done.

• Once clams are open, remove clams to bowl, leaving sauce in pan.
• Add pasta to sauce in pan.
• Heat for 2 minutes or so.
• Pour pasta into a serving bowl.
• Top with clams, remaining sauce and 1 small squeeze of lemon, a dash of olive or avocado oil.

While this is all cooking, steam a fresh vegetable. I made broccoli, steamed with basal, olive oil and salt. When ready, take out and top off with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Mmmm- a healthy dinner recipe with gusto!

I have a patio garden with herbs, eggplants, a variety of peppers and tomatoes. All of the above herbs, the pepper and the eggplant came from my garden.

Enjoy!