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spaghetti with clams

spaghetti alle vongole


TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes

MAKES: 4 servings

Cherry tomatoes add color and flavor to classic spaghetti with clams. 

Ingredients

  • Fine sea salt
  • 3 pounds manilla, cockles or small littleneck clams, scrubbed
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 9 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 garlic clove, gently smashed and peeled
  • 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes (1 1/2 pints), cut in half
  • 1 pound spaghetti


SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: cheesecloth

 

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or heavy pot, combine clams, 1 cup water, wine and 3 tablespoons oil. Cook over high heat, covered, until clams just open wide, checking frequently after 3 minutes and transferring open clams to a bowl using a slotted spoon. (Discard any clams that remain unopened after 10 minutes.) Strain juices through a fine-mesh sieve into
a bowl; set aside. Reserve 12 clams in their shell for garnish; remove remaining clams from shells; discard shells.

In a large skillet, heat remaining 6 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, reduce heat to medium andcook, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in parsley and garlic, then add tomatoes, increase heat to high and cook, stirring once or twice, for 2 minutes. Add clams (both in shells and shelled) and 1 cup reserved clam juices. Remove sauce from heat.

Cook pasta in the boiling water until just under al dente. Drain, then return pasta to pot; immediately add sauce with clams. Cook over high heat, tossing to combine and adding more clam juices to moisten, if desired, for 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and serve immediately.

August 2011

keywords:

seafood, shellfish, summer

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Comments [1]

  • This was an amazing dish. My mouth is still watering. I prepared it yesterday, albeit with some deviations from the original recipie. I only could get hold of rather large littleneck clams instead of Manilla. So I used 1 of those per portion as garnish, the rest - chopped up a bit. Since their shells are heavy, I bought 4 pounds of them to compensate. Also, my own tomato plant in the garden produces so much tomatoes I thought it would be silly to buy cherry tomatoes so I replaced the latter with my own, chopped up roughly. Everything else - according to the recipie. It was a thing to die for. Summer light, very simple, and elegant, with clams very prominent. And, yes, one more thing: I kind of lacked a bit of saltness in my plate (nobody else did) so I used a pinch of smoked sea salt. I think that added some to the final result. 

    Posted: July 28, 2012 17:41 by Saul

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