No dish can conjure up dreams of a summer in Italy quite like spaghetti with clams. Hailing from Naples in 1839, the simple, briney dish calls for just a handful of ingredients: pasta, clams, parsley, garlic, and oil. In Naples, the pasta plate is called spaghetto a vongole–not spaghetti con le vongole or alle vongole like in the rest of the boot–and it’s cooked strictly in bianco. Most of the flavor here comes from the namesake bivalves, as the pasta finishes cooking in the salty broth after the clams open.
SPAGHETTO A VONGOLE
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- 1 kg clams
- 350 grams spaghetti
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- Chopped parsley, to taste, stems reserved
- A dash of dry white wine
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Fresh or dried peperoncino, optional
PREPARATION
- Place the clams in a bowl and cover with cold water and a handful of coarse salt. Leave for 2-3 hours so that any sandy clams will purge, then drain off the saltwater and rinse well.
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil, garlic, parsley stalks, and peperoncino, if using, in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the clams and deglaze with the white wine. Season with a pinch of pepper and let the alcohol evaporate, then cover with a lid.
- Cook the clams over high heat for a few minutes. As soon as the shells open, turn off the heat.
- Shuck the clams and set them aside. Strain the sauce and add it back to the saucepan.
- Boil the spaghetti. When it’s about three quarters of the way cooked, transfer it with tongs directly to the clam sauce (don’t throw away the starchy cooking water!). Finish cooking the spaghetti over low-medium heat, adding reserved pasta water as needed, and stirring quickly so a creamy sauce will form.
- Once the pasta is al dente, turn off and stir in the shucked clams and chopped parsley. Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.
