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Quick boil some water. It’s default pasta night!

No wait– I am kidding. Well I am not kidding that it is default pasta night but I am kidding that I need boiled water for this pasta. Because who says default pasta needs be traditional “Italian Style” noodles. Not me!

Tonight’s default pasta takes a decidedly Asian twist, because I am using a package of Chinese style pancit noodles I have had sitting in the fridge for months. Because truthfully I had never cooked with them before so did not really know what to do with them. So there they sat. Until tonight.

Because in true default pasta fashion I just decided to use them on whim. In fact it is these very noodles that convinced to take this pasta dish in an easterly direction.

You see, impulsively I bought a couple of pounds of clams today. Now I am sure you know clams don’t keep fresh all that long, so I knew clams were going to be on the menu tonight. I also knew it was going to be default pasta night because when I blindly picked up the clams today, I did not pick up anything else to go along with them. So I knew whatever would be happening to these clams it would have to happen with whatever other ingredients I could find in my fridge or pantry.

But truthfully, I was not in panic mode because I knew I had linguica sausage at home too. It’s a spicy Portuguese pork sausage. It pairs beautifully with clams and a pinch of red pepper. So I intended my default pasta to be these clams, that sausage and a pound of spaghetti. You know a traditional Mediterranean approach to default pasta. It would have been nice too. Not exactly ground breaking, but delicious nonetheless.

But then I got home and here was that package of pancit noodles mocking me, taunting me. Reminding me that a noodle by any other name is, well a noodle! I could see that package daring to me to step out of my comfort zone.

Well, before I knew it that package was in my hands and at my face. I was tearing it open with my teeth. I was not about to be out done by the likes of a noodle. Oh no­– I stared that pile of noodles down. I even grabbed one and ate it.

I don’t know what I was expecting from that bite, but I found myself a bit surprised. This noodle was not a dried noodle exactly, nor was it cooked either. It was stuck in some noodle nether land, neither here nor there.

Well off to the computer I went where I discovered this noodle was typically soaked for a few minutes in cool water and then stir-fried. Well I can do that! See where this is going?

So now I had Asian noodles that wanted (demanded even) to be stir-fired, I had clams that did not care what country they played in, and I had Portuguese sausage that I decided to cajole in to a cross-cultural marriage of convenience. Because adding to this trifecta of tastes I had a bunch of Chinese broccoli leftover from the Farmers Market almost 2 weeks ago. These poor spears were on there last day. Cool water and hot oil. I guarantee nobody will know how close this broccoli came to the compost bin.

So there you have it. Default pasta night. It wasn’t quite what I expected when I left the store with those clams, but it’s everything I could have wanted.

Spicy Steamed Clams with Chinese Broccoli and Pancit Noodles serves 6 CLICK here for a printable recipe