Spaghetti with Clam Sauce

Spaghetti with Clam Sauce is one of our favorite sauces at The Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant, and we love to make it at home!

One thing I always crave is the Spaghetti with Clam Sauce + Myzithra Cheese and browned butter. It’s pure comfort food. Next time you go to The Old Spaghetti Factory Restaurant, order the “The Manager’s Favorite”, where you can choose the two sauces. These are my two favorite sauces to order: Clam and Myzithra! We’ve shared the recipe for Spaghetti with Myzithra Cheese and browned butter, and now we HAVE to share the recipe for Spaghetti with clam sauce, it’s the best!

Here’s the ingredient line up…”mise en place” aka everything in it’s place prepped and ready to go.

What you need to make Spaghetti with Clam Sauce like OSF:

• 2 6oz. cans of chopped clams in liquid
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 quart half and half
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium onion, minced
• 3 stalks celery, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley *optional garnish

Why do you peel Celery:

This step is optional, but this sauce is so much better when you take a minute to peel the celery and remove the tough strings before you chop the celery up into small pieces. To remove the strings and peel the celery use your vegetable peeler to lightly peel the outside strings off. By peeling the strings off, you get the flavor of the celery, with a smoother sauce texture.

Another optional step, but I think makes it better is to give the chopped clams a rough chop with a large knife on a cutting board. This helps to make the larger pieces smaller and makes the clam pieces more similar in size.

Drain and rinse the clams. Here is my “Manager’s Favorite” – Clam sauce on one side and Myzithra on the other side. and then you mix it all together. It’s so good!

How to make Spaghetti with Clam Sauce just like The Old Spaghetti Factory

1. In a medium sized saucepan combine butter, onion, celery and garlic. Cook over medium low heat until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the flour and mix to make a roux.
   Drain the clams and reserve the juice. Rinse the clams. Give them a rough chop to make all the pieces similar in size.
3. In a separate saucepan combine the clam juice, half and half, ground thyme and salt.
4. Heat until just below boiling.
5. Add the hot liquid to the roux and cook until the sauce thickens.
6. Add in the clams, stirring gently to mix the clams into the sauce.
7. Serve warm over cooked spaghetti.