Summer has just begun, and one of the joys is going out to the seaside where the simple restaurants of the beach resorts have already opened up, and sitting in the sun drinking in the warm rays and the sea’s sounds. All this of course while indulging in the quintessential Italian beach meal . . spaghetti alle vongole.
The recipe? Use 1 kg. of the fresh vongole veraci , literally “real clams” in Italian. (Make sure you keep the plastic bag open while in the frig, or they will suffocate and begin to smell.) When ready rinse them over and over again under cold running water until no more sand runs off. Never soak them, you don’t want to drown them in “fresh water”. The idea is to do them in by cooking!
In a large fry pan, over medium-low heat, place 4 tablespoons of olive oil, a chopped garlic clove, a few sprigs of Italian parsley, and throw the clams into this when heated. Cover and move the pan back and forth as if you were making popcorn. Slowly they will begin to pop… pop open that is. Continue until they all open (but don’t let their juices evaporate!), and transfer them to a bowl, discarding any unopened and cracked ones (meaning pre-dead), and very gently pour off their liquid thats’ in the pan into a glass/small bowl. Pour carefully to keep the sand at the bottom of the pan separate, or filter the juice through a cloth.
Now, wipe (don’t rinse!) the saucepan free of any remaining sand. And once again… golden several cloves of chopped garlic in 1/2 cup of olive oil in the pan on low fire. Then toss in your clams and the filtered juice from earlier, a couple of tablespoons of fresh chopped Italian parsley, a peperoncino or two, and give the clams a couple minutes to get coated in the oil/juice, stirring them around. (Some folks add a glass of white wine after the garlic is sautéed and let it evaporate for a minute or two before adding the clams.)
In the meantime, you will have cooked a pound of spaghetti in salted water. As soon as it’s al dente throw it into the pan with the clams and mix everything together again over low fire for a minute or so, and ecco! …the Italian seaside on your table.
– Contributed by GB (see bio), Editor, Italian Notebook.
If you’re ever around Italians when you serve this, don’t make the mistake of serving grated cheese with this dish. Your guests will all rise up in horror! To use grated cheese with fish has always been against all the Italian food laws. Having said that, a few au courant chefs are now serving shaved Parmesan with certain fish dishes in upscale restaurants. Go figure.
Thanks for the note GB. This is my favourite pasta dish by a very,very long way and just reading this is making my mouth water – and it’s decided tonight’s primo. So glad you use peperoncini as there are some who don’t and it just isn’t the same without them, in my opinion. A delicious variation on the above is to serve it Sardegnan style, topped with a sprinkling or 3 of finely grated bottarga (dried fish roe) or what my daughter calls Sardegna Parmegiano
We can all tell when it’s a GB note from the first sentence! Having enjoyed this many times at the family table, I am inspired to try myself. Will raise a glass to you when I do!
I want some now. Can not wait to hit the Jersey Shore and make this with “real clams”. Thanks for the recipe.
GB..mille grazie..and mamma mia, you made me yearn for sea and seafood – Sicily here we come! (but August is long way off!)
…yum
We have used this same recipe in the past. As a matter of fact, the
last time my wife made it, was as an accompaniment to baked stuffed
lobster that was to be served to a couple of visiting priests from
Italy, one being her cousin. Believe it or not, They had seconds on
the pasta with vongole forsaking the stuffed lobster.
We have a great fish market down by the water here in Seattle-this recipe is now on the menu this weekend! Thanks GB, always enjoy your notes!
A friend makes this dish for us when we are in Rome and I watched her wash the clams, but she also “throws” them down in her sink..and I am still not sure why. Her sink is stainless steel and she mentioned, in her beautiful Italian that my meager Italian couldn’t quite understand, that it was to “close” them?
my sicilian grandmother would make it all the time-and as she grew-up my mother learned and she taught my wife -all three were great at italian cooking and every friday night was ‘spaghetti with vongole’now all three are gone and besides missing them i miss all the wonferful dishes they always prepared–i try to imitate their cooking but i fail miserably-if i where younger and stronger i would travel to the ‘little italys’of ny-baltimore-sanfrancisco and even palermo- all i have now are memories –ah la goventu!!!
Giancarlos: You constantly amaze us with your intimate knowledge of things Italian. And all of this from a youth grown up in Oak Park. Bravo e Grazie
Suzanne and Ron
Thanks very much. One of my favorite pastas. I will use a lot when I return to Canada this month.
Wow, thanks so much for helping me to know how to cook these!
Benissimo. Mangiamo!
In the depths of a southern hemeisphere winter ,this recipe revives me and reminds me that our spring and the digging in the sand with our toes for clams is not far away ?? Mille grazie , the memories of many a seaside summer came flooding back .
I have never met anyone who did not like Italian food. Have you? Thank you sooooooo much for this recipe. It’s Friday night and I’m having egg plant parmigiana and spaghetti marinara.