How to make a tasty pasta sauce out of a can of clam chowder

Canned clam chowder makes an excellent base for a seafood-style pasta sauce. Just add pasta, veggies, and various herbs and spices. Here's one of my favorite versions. It takes 15-20 minutes to put together - basically the length of time to fully cook the pasta.



* two cups pasta - penne, rotini, macaroni, or other short pieces (I prefer penne)
* one can clam chowder (I prefer Campbell's Chunky)
* 2-3 cups frozen vegetables, such as peas, corn, broccoli, etc.
* minced dried onion bits
* garlic powder
* paprika
* dash cayenne
* black pepper
* lots of basil

Set the pasta to boil in a large pot with plenty of water. Add salt to the water if you like. Remember to stir occasionally as you work on the sauce.

Begin the sauce by heating the clam chowder in a saucepan. If the can's instructions say to stir in a can of water, do so. Sprinkle in the onions, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. I add enough of each to lightly cover the surface of the chowder (less for cayenne if you don't want too much spicy heat). The chowder should become a pale orange color once the spices are all stirred in together.



When the chowder begins to boil, add the frozen vegetables. Stir everything together. Cover and turn the heat to low.

When the pasta is done, drain it in a colander. Uncover the chowder sauce, sprinkle in the basil, then add the pasta. (The basil is what really makes this dish.) Turn off the heat and stir everything together. Enjoy!

I've found that frozen peas require very little cooking. Instead of adding it to the clam chowder while it's heating, try putting it in the bottom of the colander before pouring the pasta water over it. This will thaw them out nicely while letting them retain their freshlike crispness.