clam and spinach conchiglie

Conchiglie are little shell-shaped pasta. It sounds much fancier than "shell," but you'll find this dish is not at all fancy (like most of my cooking).

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Conchiglie pasta
1/2 a bag of fresh baby spinach (about 2 cups)
1 can of good quality clams, rinsed and drained
parmesan cheese
olive oil (enough to cover the pan bottom)
garlic, sliced
crushed red pepper (pepperoncini)
salt

Cook the pasta for about 1 minute less than package instructions. While it's cooking, make the sauce. It will really take less than five minutes to put it all together once you've prepped the ingredients (rinsing and slicing and such), so keep that in mind.

Over medium heat, simmer the garlic and pepperoncini in olive oil until they get the slightest bit brown. Add the clams and the spinach and stir for about a minute. Using a slotted spoon, add the cooked pasta directly from its cooking water. Add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to your sauce to get the consistency you like. Allow to simmer for about a minute (if you need to, lower the heat a little). Add parmesan cheese to taste (I probably put in 1/4 cup). Add salt to taste.

Serve. Dang, that was easy.

Some will scoff at using canned clams, but frankly, when you've just spent the day working and your stomach is growling, fresh clams seem like a whole lot of hassle. This is definitely a recipe for the end of a long day. I always seem to have the ingredients lying around, and the fact that its ready in only as many minutes as the pasta needs to cook is a definite plus. So, if you've got the wherewithal to use fresh clams, please do - but don't shy away for fear of a can.