Chef’s fave pasta dish—easy and delicous!
One of my favourite pastas of all time is linguine con le vongole. The briny flavour of the clams and white wine, with the heat of peperoncino and freshness of parsley, is just perfect. I like my pasta to be quite al dente in this dish. You have to work quickly when making the sauce, so have everything ready before you start. Most importantly, don’t burn the garlic—if you do, start again. And whatever you do, PLEASE do not put cheese on this. It will mask all of the beautiful flavours you’ve developed.
| 250 g | spaghetti or linguine |
| 500 g | fresh clams |
| 250 ml | high-quality extra virgin olive oil |
| 2 cloves | garlic, thinly sliced |
| 1 t | chili flakes |
| 1 c | dry white wine |
| 1 handful | cherry tomatoes, halved |
| 1 handful | Italian flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped |
| sea salt, quanto basta |
Purge the clams: place the clams in a large bowl of cold, well-salted water for 30-60 minutes to allow them to release any sand. Lift the clams out of the water rather than pouring them into a strainer, leaving any sand behind. Rinse well under cold water and discard any cracked clams or any that remain open when tapped.
Bring 8 L of water with 80 g of sea salt to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook for about 2 minutes less than the package instructions, or until quite al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, gently squeeze the halved cherry tomatoes over a bowl to remove the seeds and excess juice. Set the tomatoes aside.
In a large, deep frying pan—big enough to generously hold all of the cooked pasta—heat the olive oil over high heat. Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the garlic and stir quickly. When the garlic is just beginning to turn golden, add the clams, chili flakes, squeezed cherry tomatoes and white wine.
Cover the pan tightly and cook until the clams have just opened, approximately 5-6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the clams and set them aside for a couple of minutes. Discard any clams that have not opened.
Taste the sauce and season with sea salt, quanto basta. Remember that the clams and pasta water are already salty, so taste first.
Using tongs, drag the linguine directly from the cooking water into the pan with the sauce. Add approximately 4 oz (120 ml) of the pasta cooking water and cook over high heat, stirring and tossing constantly, until the sauce emulsifies and loosely coats the pasta.
Return the clams to the pan, add the parsley and toss everything together just long enough to warm the clams through. The pasta should be glossy, saucy and quite al dente. Serve immediately—and no cheese.
Serves 2.