Clams Kokkinisto

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, un-drained
• 0.5 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (i freeze the other half in a snack-sized ziploc)
• 1 (6 1/2 ounce) can clams, undrained
• 1 (6 1/2 ounce) can clams, drained (i freeze the juice in a sandwich-sized ziploc to use in other recipes...you get about 1/2 cup worth)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• salt and pepper
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 8 ounces linguine, cooked (i used whole wheat)

Recipe

• 1 in a large saucepan, sauté the onion, celery, and garlic in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
• 2 stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, and clam juice. (put clams in refrigerator while the sauce simmers; they'll get tough if added now [they're pre-cooked].).
• 3 season with bay leaves, red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt and pepper.
• 4 cover, and simmer for 1 hour, until tomatoes begin to turn deep red in color and the sauce thickens.
• 5 stir in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and clams near the end of the cooking time.
• 6 serve over linguine and top each serving with feta cheese.