Bihod (Fish Roe) & Clam Pasta

This is a very easy seafood pasta to make, made from bihod, which is fish roe from the Philippines. I suppose you can use other kinds of roe, but the one I use comes in a bottle, and what must be a thousand tiny fish eggs are submerged in olive oil. I don't think it's available in Singapore; I either buy it in Manila when I go there for a trip, or friends and family bring it over for me.




BIHOD (ROE) & CLAM PASTA
Good for 6

500 grams fresh clams
500 grams linguini or spaghetti noodles
1 bottle of bihod, equivalent to about 1 cup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head of garlic, sliced lengthwise
1 large onion, sliced crosswise and lenthwise, in 1 cm chunks
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Italian flat leaf parsley; stalks minced and leaves cut into 1 cm
Freshly grated parmesan cheese (from the block; not that green plastic bottle!)

Procedure:

1.  Submerge the clams in water; wash and make sure outer shells are clean. Drain and throw away the water.  In a deep pan, put water enough to cover the clams, and heat till boiling. Put the clams in and wait till they open. Don't overcook.  Discard any clams that do not open.  Strain the open clams and save the water. Set aside.  (Make sure you use a sieve so that the reserved water doesn't have any dirt or pieces of shell.)

2.  While you are parboiling the clams, put water in another deep pot till 3/4 full; add 3 tablespoons salt. Heat till boiling. (This is to cook the pasta.)

3.  While waiting for the pasta pot to boil, heat a deep pan or wok with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Saute the garlic till slightly brown. Add the onions and minced parsley stems and sauté until onions are translucent and parsley is bright green.  Add the chili flakes and mix well.  Add the roe and sauté until slightly brown.  Add salt and pepper.  Add 1/2 cup of the reserved clam water and the parboiled clams. Finally, add the wine. Turn the fire to very low, while your pasta is cooking, to make sure that the sauce is warm but not burning, while you wait for the linguini to cook.

4. Go back to your pasta pot and once the water is boiling (violently!), put in the linguini, stirring till the noodles are cooked al dente. When the noodles are ready, turn off the stove. Do not drain the pot.

5.  Go back to the clam/roe pan and turn up the fire to medium. Start fishing out the linguini with a pasta fork, and put them into the pan with the clams, stirring the noodles and the clam/roe sauce as you add the noodles. Add half of the Italian parsley and mix till well integrated.  Add more noodles and continue mixing, until you have all the linguini in the pan with the clams.  Halfway through doing this, taste, and adjust the salt, pepper and chili, if needed.   Finish off with the rest of the Italian parsley.

6.  If the pasta seems dry, add more of the clam water or if you have run out of that, use the pasta water (and that is why I don't throw it out).  Grate some parmesan cheese on top of the pasta. Serve hot.  Reserve some of the pasta water and refrigerate. You can use a little of this when you reheat the pasta the next day, so that it won't be dry.