There are different kinds of clams. You can use any kind for this dish, but I got my hands on a lovely bag of fresh vongole clams, which are hand fished and sustainable. Not to forget absolutely delicious.
Make sure to soak the clams in water for half an hour or so, preferable on a thin wired sieve. This way the sand from the shells can sink to the bottom of the water and you won’t have a gritty sauce.
Ingredients:
- 1kg vongole clams
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 fresh chillies
- Good olive oil
- 200ml white wine
- 400gr dried spaghetti
Recipe:
Make sure the clams are scrubbed clean and leave them to stand in cold water to get the last sand out of the shells.
Heat a large pot of water to boiling point. Add the spaghetti just before you add the wine to the frying pan, which should time your dish nicely, but it does depend on the type and brand of spaghetti you use.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Toss the chopped garlic and chillies with the hot oil for 2 minutes until aromatic. Add the white wine and heat well, so the sauce is bubbling nicely. After a minute, add the drained clams.
Cook the sauce while tossing a few times until the clams have all opened. This should take about 5 minutes.
Drain the cooked spaghetti and toss this with the clams and the sauce. Serve with a nice glass of white wine.