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Red Shrimp Sauce Made with Simple Cubed Tomatoes, Flavored with Fresh Clam Broth (Pete’s Favorite Version)

Red Shrimp Sauce Made with Simple Cubed Tomatoes,
Flavored with Fresh Clam Broth (Pete’s Favorite Version)

Chef's notes

Red Shrimp sauce with pasta is one of our very favorite casual dishes. We often serve as comfort food to closest friends and relatives. Not necessarily an elegant meal to impress but simply to enjoy.

I wanted to create an even lighter version. To my surprise, domestic diced tomatoes (i.e., Del Monte and Hunts diced) work incredibly well. Tomatoes have a light tomato juice while tomatoes a fresher taste, creating a sauce without distractions.

Next is the addition of fresh clam juice. Although I use bottled clam juice in my traditional sauce, it only offers a hint of fresh clam flavors. It's nothing short of stunning how fresh shucked clam with enhance the flavor of seafood sauces.

The sequence and techniques for cooking also incorporate an abundant amount of olive oil, preferably "Pete’s Garlic oil".

Revised 7-14-2021

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Red Shrimp Sauce Made with Simple Cubed Tomatoes, Flavored with Fresh Clam Broth (Pete’s Favorite Version)

Ingredients

Simple version Pete's Garlic Oil

4 garlic cloves and 1 cup olive oil

Additional ingredients

16 live cherry stone clams
1 medium onion
2 pounds of large shrimp, 21 to 30 per pound, preferably with shells
6 15-oz cans diced tomatoes.
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 or 4 5-inch stalks fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper
1 ½ to 2 pounds of linguini or your favorite pasta

Instructions

Remove garlic tips but do not remove garlic skins. Half cloves lengthwise. Place in a butter melting style pot with 1 cup olive oil. Place pot on a burner over medium heat. As the oil starts to simmer, reduce heat to near lowest. Garlic and oil are ready when skins are released, garlic is tanned, softened, and sweet. Remove released skins.
Scrub clams clean over running cold water. Shuck clams over a bowl capturing all their liquid. Discard shells.
Shake clams in their juice to remove any fragments and place clams in a clean bowl. Pour clam juice through a strainer into clams. Discard any fragments. Refrigerate clams and their juices.
Peel, slice, and sauté onion with about half of the garlic oil. Remove onion when translucent saving drippings.
Rinse shrimp. Remove shells. Sautee shells in the pot until pink. This helps harvest additional flavor. Remove and discard shells with a slotted spoon again reserving as much of the liquid drippings as possible.
Quick toss shrimp in the pot. Cook almost through, still slightly translucent in their middles. They will finish cooking again before serving. Refrigerate when cooled.
Simmer entire contents of 4 cans of the cubed tomatoes. When most of the liquid is evaporated add the next two cans of tomato, remaining flavored olive oil, roasted garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, clam juice, and basil. Simmer for about 2 hours until liquid is reduced and sauce slightly thickened.
Cook pasta in rapidly boing water. When almost cooked through, al dente, remove basil from sauce. When ready to strain pasts, reheat sauce then stir in shrimp to just finish cooking through.
Reserve a cup of pasta water. Strain pasta. To keep from sticking, add some pasta sauce to the bottom of the pot. Stir in pasta.
Empty into a serving platter, top with shrimp sauce and serve. Offer guests additional sauce if decided.

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