Spaghetti alle Vongole
I’m sure we’re all missing travel these days. I know every location is going through a different degree of restrictions. In our case in Tuscany, with our “Orange” status it means we can’t leave the town we reside in unless for work reasons. When we are Yellow, which we hope to be in another week restaurants open for dine-in up until 6 pm, and we have somewhat more freedom but can’t leave our region which would be equivalent to states in the US.
One of the nice things about Europe, and for sure Italy, during normal times that is, you could hop on the train and get to a city in a short time. I loved hopping on the train and going to the beach in almost any season: Summer, Spring, Fall, or Winter. I could sit at the beach, bring a book and relax for hours….then go to my favorite restaurant for seafood pasta.
One of my favorite seaside day trips is taking the train to Monterosso, in Cinque Terre because it’s easy for me to get to without a car and it holds a special place for me. The recipe I’m sharing this week is not specifically from Monterosso (although one of my favorite dishes from there is coming soon), but a quintessential Italian coastal spaghetti that reminds me of the Italian seaside. Since I can’t make it to the beach, thought I’d travel via taste and cook through the travel blues.
Hope you all like Spaghetti alla Vongole with some twists I’ve added.
Spaghetti alle Vongole alla Ileana Notes:
First, I love spicy seafood pasta so I always add chilies. Second, oftentimes it’s done without tomatoes, but I like to add a nice dice of fresh tomatoes. One thing that is a must is LOTS of fresh parsley, I mean make it rain chopped parsley. When I shop for my veggies, it’s common in Italy to say what you are going to make. When I told my vegetable guy I was making Spaghetti alle Vongole, his response was “senza prezzemolo non se puo fare spaghetti alle vongole” meaning without parsley you cannot make spaghetti alle vongole.
Lastly, please don’t be intimidated by working with clams. It takes minimal work and is sooo tasty. The general rule is if they are open before cooking, they should be tossed. Clams should be very fresh and kept on crushed ice until you are ready to cook them never sitting in water or liquid. Then when you are ready to cook them, this is when you submerge them in salted water which is similar to their natural habitat encouraging them to open and release any sand or grit inside. Change the water once or twice, by lifting them out and placing them into a fresh bowl of salted water. Proceed to cook with any recipe you are using by removing them from the salted water and adding them to your recipe. When they are cooked, if any remain closed you toss them as these are bad clams.
In Italy, this dish does not use “clam juice”. You typically add garlic, EVOO, dry white wine, and the natural juices of the clam come out. Very simple.
Spaghetti alle Vongole
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1kg clams
2 cups (300 grams) cherry tomato, quartered or diced
2 to 3 TB chopped parsley
¼ cup (50 ml) dry white wine
2 garlic cloves
1 calabrian chili, thinly sliced (a pinch of dried chili flakes can be substituted)
1 lb (500 gms) spaghetti or your favorite long shape dry pasta
EVOO
Salt to
Method:
At least 30 minutes before cooking place all the clams in plenty of cold water with at least a tablespoon of salt. This creates a similar environment, and as they sit in the water they will open slightly and release any sand or grit that is inside the shells. After about 10 minutes I remove them, wipe each shell with a kitchen towel, and throwing away any clams that are open. I add them to a fresh batch of cold salted water and let them sit in the salted water until I’m ready to cook. If you find the clams to be quite dirty you can change out the water one more time.
Place a large pot of water to boil for the spaghetti. In a large skillet, drizzle some EVOO. Smash the garlic cloves with the backside of your knife and add them to the pan. Sautee the garlic until golden, add the Calabrian chili, and stir. Then add the cherry tomatoes and stir cooking for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the clams which have been removed from the salted water to the pan, add the wine in and bring the flame to high to allow the alcohol to cook off. Immediately cover with a lid, and lower the heat to medium. This encourages the clams to cook faster, steam and they will open when they are done.
Depending on the size of the clams they could open in 8 to 10 minutes, so you have to check. Knowing my pasta takes 9 minutes to cook, I added the pasta to salted boiling water after the clams were cooking for 5 minutes. As the clams begin to open, remove them from the pan and add them to a bowl to prevent overcooking. They should all be open by the time the pasta is done, and in a separate bowl. Taste a clam to test for salt as we haven’t added any yet. In my case, a tiny pinch of salt was needed, but not a touch more. I added the salt directly to the pan with the clam juices. Keep in mind clams are briny, and we rinsed them in salted water so be judicious to add salt with this dish. Any clams that have not opened should be thrown away. Add your pasta to the pan with all the remaining juices, stir really well adding some of the pasta cooking water as necessary to marry the pasta to the sauce. Add half the chopped parsley and stir well. Add the cooked clams back to the pan with the pasta, and sprinkle the remaining parsley on top. Enjoy your Italian seaside-inspired pasta at home!
