Archive for the ‘Clams’ Category
Spaghetti with clams
This is a very quick and simple seafood dish of divine sweetness.
The first thing to do is to put the clams in cold water and sea salt and leave them peacefully in the fridge for a few hours, the longer the better, this allows them get rid of the inevitable sand that they contain. Wash them thoroughly under running water before cooking.
Finely chop abundant garlic and stir fry it together with some chili in extra virgin olive oil at very low fire. Just before the garlic starts changing its white colour to golden pour a glass of dry white wine (I use Chardonnay) and a couple of spoonfuls of grated bread.
Raise the fire to the maximum and let the alcohol evaporate for a minute, add the clams, put the lead over the pot and reduce the fire to medium. It takes about three to four minutes for the clams to cook completely. Once they’re cooked they open up. If you open the lead and see that they haven’t opened… put it right back and wait another minute!
As they open up they release their juices and at the end of the process they will be swimming in a sublime sauce, ready to be added to the pasta.
It may be that a couple of them don’t open at all, don’t force their shells to eat them, it means that they were already dead when they went into the pot and they’re better left alone.
Anyway, that’s the whole recipe, easy isn’t it? Just drain the spaghetti, add the sauce and sprinkle with chopped flat parsley.
To have the pasta and the sauce ready at the same time I switch the fire under the garlic as I pour the pasta into the water.
