I can’t express how much this pasta means to me. I don’t think it was one of the first I’ve ever tried but it definitely came to be one of my all time favourites! Contrary to what a lot of recipes will tell you I.e. cook everything together…this simple extra step of removing the clams first and them putting them back in again at the end makes all the difference. It gives your pasta more room to absorb the beautiful clam juice and white wine whilst your clams sit tight and not overcook. Served with a bit of grated bottarga on the top and some lemon zest…yum! 

Ingredients:

• Medium sized vongole/clams 2 kg
• Garlic 3 – 5 cloves Thinly sliced
• Parsley stalks 5 g Finely chopped
• Dried chilli 1 – 3 Chopped
• Parsley leaves 10 g Finely chopped
• White wine 125 ml Dry 
• Good quality linguini/ spaghetti 500 g Half cooked (follow packet instructions)

Preparing your clams:

1. Soak your clams in salted water for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes, rise off the clams and soak them again in salted water for 30 minutes. 
3. Repeat this process another 1 – 3 times or until the water remains clear after a final soak. 
4. Rinse the clams and drain them. Set aside. 

Instructions:

1. In a large/wide frying pan or wok, add in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil (about 4 tbs) and then add in your garlic, parsley stalks and dried chilli. 
2. The minute the garlic looks like it is about to brown, throw in the Vongole. 
3. Give everything a good stir and let the pan come back to temperature.
4. When the heat has come back to ‘high’, throw in your white wine. Give everything one good stir and then cover with a lid. Depending on the size of your clams, this will take anywhere between 3 – 8 minutes, but generally, once 90% of them are open, you’re good to go.
5. After you’ve opened the lid, use a spider to remove the vongole and add in your 1/2 cooked pasta. 
6. Let the pasta cook in the sauce until it has absorbed about half of the liquid (you’ll still be left with some to sip on later don’t worry!).
7. When the pasta has almost reached it’s ‘al dente’ stage, add in your vongole and chopped parsley. 
8. Drizzle in some extra virgin olive olive and give everything a good stir to glaze the pasta. After about a minute, remove and serve immediately! 

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