Spaghetti alle Vongole (Spaghetti with Clams)
Photo: Popo le Chien, CC BY-SA 4.0
Spaghetti alle vongole is a Neapolitan dish of pasta tossed with clams that open right in the pan. Here the live clams give up their own juices, while optional canned clams and bottled broth deepen the sauce. Diced plum tomatoes make it the red version, in rosso, and leaving them out gives the white, in bianco. Parsley and peperoncino keep it light, which suits a summer table.
Instructions
Bring the water to a boil in a large pot with a tablespoon of salt. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, which takes 7 to 8 minutes.
While the pasta cooks, pour enough olive oil into a large, wide pan to just cover the bottom and heat it. Add the garlic and the peperoncino and sauté for about a minute, until the garlic is golden brown. Watch it closely, because burnt garlic turns bitter.
Add the live clams and the diced tomatoes, then cover the pan. Cook for about eight minutes, shaking the pan every minute or so to help the shells open. Discard any clams that stay closed.
Drain the spaghetti and add it to the pan with the clams and tomatoes, then turn the heat to low. Stir in the canned clams and the clam broth if you are using them.
Season with salt, and with black pepper if you did not use peperoncino. Toss until the pasta is coated in the tomatoes and oil, adding another tablespoon of olive oil if you like.
Scatter the parsley over the top and serve hot, without cheese.
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