Version from Italy
spaghetti alle vongole — Italy
A Neapolitan pasta dish of spaghetti tossed with clams, garlic, olive oil, white wine and parsley, kept without tomato in this version.
- 75 min
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 4
- Servings
- Medium
- Difficulty
Spaghetti alle vongole is a pasta dish built around small clams cooked quickly with garlic, olive oil and parsley, their own briny liquid becoming the sauce that coats the spaghetti.
It is reported chiefly from Naples and the coast of Campania, and from there it spread across Italian cooking more broadly; it also appears widely on the menus of Italian restaurants abroad.
To prepare it, the clams are first left in salted water so they release any trapped sand, then opened in a wide pan over heat with olive oil, sliced garlic and a splash of white wine. Spaghetti is boiled separately until just short of tender, then finished in the same pan together with a little of its starchy cooking water, which binds the clam liquid into a light sauce. Chopped parsley is stirred in at the end, off the heat.
Cooks differ mainly on whether to serve the clams in their shells or shelled, how much chili and garlic to include, and whether a spoon of tomato is added; this version stays without tomato, with a light touch of chili, and the clams left in shell so diners can see and pick them out at the table.
Preparation
Soak the clams in salted water for one hour so they release any sand, then rinse.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil for the spaghetti.
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan and gently cook the sliced garlic and chili.
Add the clams and white wine, cover, and cook until the shells open.
Cook the spaghetti until just short of tender, then drain, keeping a cup of the cooking water.
Toss the spaghetti into the clam pan with a splash of the cooking water and the parsley, and finish for two minutes.
