Goombah Joe's white clam sauce

This is my brother Joe. He is in my kitchen and he is tasting the sauce that he prepared Saturday night for a household of (okay, ten) family members.

It is not just any sauce. It is my brother's white clam sauce.

A better homemade version you will not find.

He started with four dozen countneck clams that he steamed open in white wine, olive oil and sweet butter.

Like so.
After letting the clams cool a bit (I can't say for certain but a Wii bowling match with cousins Joanna and Alec may have transpired during the wait) he scooped out the meat.

It is at this point that I must apologize for an interruption in the visual portion of our discussion, for I was called away to attend to a very urgent matter regarding a box of Joyva Ring Jells that were caringly driven more than three hundred miles to me by cousins Josephine and Frank (long story).

Suffice to say that the B team on the photographic side did not perform as admirably as the chef this evening.

And so I give you the finished product.

And the very much loved family visitors for whom it was prepared.

Oh, and if you're interested in the rest of Goombah (that's "godfather," and he's a damned fine one, much better than I) Joe's method, here goes: Return the shelled clams to the wine/butter mix and add a quart of clam juice. Then — and this is the most critical part — add four heads of roasted garlic and simmer. When the pasta (linguine here, and two pounds of it) is almost done toss it in the sauce to finish cooking for the last couple minutes.

And stay away from the Ring Jells, okay. They're hard to come by — and they're mine.