Spaghetti alle Vongole
Campania · pasta · serves 4 · 40 min total · medium
Naples' Christmas Eve pasta — the centrepiece of the Cenone di Vigilia.
Ingredients
- 400 g spaghetti
- 1000 g small clams (vongole veraci)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 chilli fresh red chilli
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley
- 150 ml dry white wine
- 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Method
- Soak clams in cold salted water for 1–2 hours so they purge sand. Lift them out — don't pour, sand stays at the bottom.
- Slice garlic and chilli thin. Warm both in olive oil over medium-low heat until garlic just turns pale gold.
- Add clams and white wine. Cover. Cook 4 minutes — until shells open. Discard any that don't.
- Lift half the clams out of their shells. Reserve all the briny pan liquid carefully — leave any sand at the bottom.
- Boil pasta 2 minutes shy of al dente, then drain and finish cooking in the clam liquid for the last 2 minutes, tossing constantly to absorb.
- Return shelled clams and unshelled clams. Toss with chopped parsley and a splash of olive oil.
- Plate. No cheese — never with seafood pasta.