Linguine with clam sauce

This is another one of those great dishes that can be made entirely from what's already in your pantry.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
6 canned anchovy fillets, chopped, or the equivalent amount of anchovy paste
3 chopped garlic cloves
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 14.5 oz cans tomatoes
4 6.5 oz cans chopped clams
½ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 lb linguine, cooked
Parmesan and fresh parsley

Heat oil, sauté onion for 3 minutes. Add anchovies, garlic and pepper, and sauté 2 minutes. Mix in tomatoes with juice, clams with juice, wine and tomato paste. Bring to boil, reduce to medium-low and simmer at least five minutes; more if you want a slightly thicker sauce. Add linguine, toss to coast. Sprinkle with parm and parsley, serve.

For white clam sauce, leave out tomatoes.

Don't be offended by using anchovies--they add a wonderful depth of flavor (umami) and are a secret ingredient of cooks everywhere.

Cost: a tin of anchovies is about $1.50, 2 cans of tomatoes are 57 cents each if you buy them in bulk, canned clams usually run about $1.50 or so each (you can cut back to three cans if you want), and a box of linguine is probably another $1.50 (less if you buy in bulk, and you can substitute spaghetti). The rest you should already have on hand, let's say another $1 for the rest. That's roughly $11 total, maybe a little less, and this will easily feed 6 adults as a main course, for a total of $1.83 (or less) per serving.

It's also one of those dishes you can throw together at the last minute for guests, and it tastes like you spent all day in the kitchen.