Cheff Jeffs Homemade Pasta in Clam Sauce

Private Chef Jeff Nappe, based out of New Jersey, curates beautiful elegant dishes. Using techniques and ingredients used in different cultures such as Indian, Norwegian and Japanese. Understanding textural, visual and taste appeal, you can count on New Jersey Resident & Chef, Jeff, to create your new favorite dish.

We grew up eating spaghetti, but not so much in clam sauce. Here, we have the modernized version of a fresh pasta with porcini mushrooms, cured egg yolk, and crispy bacon. Along with the classic touches you remember such as pecorino romano, garlic, and broccoli. These flavors are the best you can imagine.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Pasta dough

AP flour, 3 C

Egg yolks, 6

Evoo, 1 tbsp

Salt, a pinch

Water, 1/2 c

AP flour for dusting

Broccoli clam sauce

Broccoli, 1 crown

Evoo, 2 tbsp

Sauvignon blanc, 1/2 c

Chicken bouillon cubes, 2 or low sodium chicken stock, 1/2 c

*Note: using the bouillon cubes will produce a bolder saltier flavor)

Manila clams, 20

Porcini mushrooms, 2 chopped

Porcini mushroom, chefs essence, 2 drops

Garlic, 8 cloves, chopped

Bacon, 4 strips, crumbled

Cured egg yolk, grated

*Note-cured egg yolks need to be made 72 hours in advance

Pecorino, grated

Salt, to taste

Procedure:

For the pasta, toast the AP flour for the pasta dough by pouring it into a saucepan and whisking it on medium heat for 10 minutes. Its optional but I swear it makes the pasta taste better.
Properly sanitize a countertop or stainless steel table.
Pour 3 c AP flour onto table making a dent in the middle for the egg yolks. Drop 6 egg yolks into flour, 1 tbsp evoo, a pinch of salt, and start with 1/4 c water. Mix it all together until dough is formed. If it is too wet or sticky then add AP Flour by the tbsp to each side as you knead it and flip it. Knead the dough adding a sprinkle of flour as you flip until the perfect consistency is formed. If it becomes too dry add 2 tbsp of water to the dough and work it in. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes. Cut the dough into portions.
Using a wide wooden rolling pin, roll out each portion into a long rectangular shape, prepped to be ran though a pasta maker. You will probably have to continue to keep lightly dusting the dough with AP flour each time you turn it to be rolled.
Take a rolled out piece of dough and run it through your pasta machines rollers to make the dough slightly thinner than what your rolling pin will allow. You may have to run it through at least twice, maybe three times to achieve the desired silky consistency. Also continue lightly sprinkling flour to prevent the dough from sticking when necessary.
After putting your dough through the rollers, put it through the pasta cutting attachment of your choice, I personally love using it for spaghetti or fettucine. Once the dough is ran through hit it with a dusting of flour to prevent sticking.
At this point you can either use the pasta immediately or set it aside briefly in a refrigerated airtight container with precautions taken in order to prevent the pasta from sticking together, such as layering parchment and sprinkling extra flour for dusting.
For cured egg yolks, using a medium sized container mix together 1 c salt and 1/2 c sugar. Put the salt and sugar mixture into a cup or bowl, set aside. Pour 2/3’s of the salt sugar mixture back into the medium bowl. Make dents in the mixture so the egg yolks have a place to rest without rolling around. Place 2 yolks in the mixture and cover them with the remaining 1/3 of the salt sugar mixture. Keep in an airtight container for 3 days.
After 3 days remove the yolks, run under water for a split second if necessary. Place in a food dehydrator on low for up to 2 hours. Once cooled, store in an airtight container.
Put on a large pot with salted boiling water for pasta
For the broccoli clam sauce, put 1/4 stick unsalted butter with medium high flame in a small pot with a lid . Once butter is browned, drop in Manila clams along with 1/2 c sauvignon blanc, 1/2 c low sodium chicken stock, and 1 tsp salt. On medium low flame, allow the clams to steam with the lid on. About 10 minutes. Turn off the flame.
For bacon and porcini mushrooms, reheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment and put 4 strips of bacon and 2 large porchini mushrooms chopped lengthwise. Drizzle oil on mushrooms. Bake for 20 minutes or until bacon is crispy. Allow bacon to cool and crumble into small pieces. Set mushrooms aside.
In a medium pan, put 2 tbsp evoo and 1/2 stick unsalted butter at a medium high flame with 8 cloves of garlic. Once brown butter is achieved, lower the flame to medium and put 1 crown of broccoli broken down into smaller pieces. Put 1/4 c low sodium chicken stock or 1 chicken bouillon cube into pan with broccoli. Reach over to the pot with the clams and pour about 1/2 cup of liquid leftover in the pot through a fine mesh strainer into the broccoli pan. Then drop the crumbled bacon, chopped porcini mushrooms, 2 drops porcini mushroom chefs essence, and clams into the broccoli pan. Depending on the size of your burners, allow to reduce for 5 or 10 minutes on medium heat until mixture reduces by half.
Drop the fresh made pasta into the boiling water for at least 5 minutes for al dente. Drain the pasta and pour the spaghetti into the pan with the mixture of broccoli, clams, clam stock, garlic cloves, chicken stock, porcini mushrooms, a pinch of salt, and bacon. Toss gently and plate using rubber tongs and/or a large fork.
Finish by grating cured egg yolk and pecorino romano up and down the dish.

Note: Technically speaking you could stop at step 3 and use your knife or different tools for pasta making to cut the pasta into shape. Feel free to experiment trying different techniques once you get to this point with the dough. (pappardelle, ravioli, etc).

Note-The other option is doing this 24-48 hours in advance layering the pasta in a food dehydrator and allowing it to dry on a medium setting for 4-6 hours depending on your dehydrator. Once the pasta is cooled, it will be solid and you can store it in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Note-Mushrooms may take longer to get really toasted, depending on their thickness.

This recipe is just one of the many recipes that can be found in Chef Jeff Nappe’s book, Tastings, which can be found on Amazon or by clicking the link https://amzn.to/3oschwE

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