surf clam and asparagus linguine with cream sauce

Ever since I made the blue cheese mushroom hamburger recently I have been crazy about the blue cheese. Here is one rendition of using the blue cheese.

Recently I have been able to get live surf clams at a number of Asian seafood places I regularly visit. At times they can be quite big. I have gotten very good in shucking them with minimal lost of juice or meat.
a large surf clam enough for more than a meal

I made this linguine dish and it is so quick and the result is better than any clam linguine that I'd ever had in any restaurants. I would learn with my experience never order clam based entree when dining out. It is amazing how sucky most places are.
Here is the gist of the process. I don't give the precise measurement as I never measure when I cook. I just estimate with my eyes.
Boil linguine in a sauce pan with salted water. Drain and ready for later. Do not rinse with water. The starch on the outside would hold the delectable sauce to the linguine.
Blanch about 3 stalks of asparagus and shock in cold water. I never bother to use ice as all the recipe would tell you to do. It is unnecessary! Besides I hate my vegetable in a warm entree cold. Cut the asparagus into bite size pieces for later use.
Shuck the clam with a clam knife and capture all the juices in a bowl. I blanch the clam meat by dumping the whole clam with the juice into a pot of water (or broth) that I would later use to make a Thai hot and sour soup. This kills the clam quickly and also make the meat easier to cut. I cut as much clam meat as I need for this dish into small pieces with a stainless steel Chinese scissors.
Next is to brown a strip of bacon after cutting it into small pieces. When the bacon bits is brown add the minced garlic. Add salt and pepper. You want to add enough for the entire dish of linguine as this will form the cream sauce. Next add in blue cheese to melt them. Do not burn the cheese. Add in whipping cream and the sauce would become thick.
Dump in the linguine and let it cook briefly in the sauce. Next dump in the asparagus pieces and let them warm up a bit. For herb I use a sprig of Thai basil. I cut the leaves into small pieces (this maximize the release of the fragrances) and put into the sauce just before serving. Plate and serve. By now you may wonder where is the butter. I use no butter as there is enough fat from the bacon, cheese, and the cream.

this is one i prepared in another meal. this time i mixed the asparagus more with everything else so the asparagus soaks up the delectable sauce

as a bonus to this post here is a health snack - asparagus with bacon and blue cheese cream sauce; i am not saying this for spike, i really believe it is healthier than most meals a lot of people eat

I know, the public health authorities would tell you the bacon fat and the heavy cream will clog you arteries. I repeat, a diet heavy with starch and sugar are what kill a lot of people everyday. Not when you eat everything in moderation.
Don't even get me started about salt...