Cookbook:Spaghetti with Clams in White Wine Sauce
Appearance
Spaghetti with Clams in White Wine Sauce | |
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Category | Pasta recipes |
Servings | 6 |
Time | 1 hour |
Difficulty |
Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Recipes | Pasta Recipes | Italian-American cuisine | Clam recipes
This recipe is an Americanized version of spaghetti alle vongole, a Neapolitan dish that's popular throughout Italy. The traditional, Neapolitan version calls for clams, spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, parsley, salt, black pepper and sometimes red pepper flakes.[1] This American version adds butter, white wine and sometimes cream to the traditional ingredients.
Ingredients
[edit | edit source]- Olive oil
- 8 oz clams or carpet clams as they are sometimes known
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 large pinch of red pepper flakes
- ½ cup white wine
- Zest or the juice of 1 lemon
- Zest of ½ lime
- Spaghetti, enough for the number of people to be served
- 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley
- 1 oz salted butter
Procedure
[edit | edit source]- Put a large saucepan of water on the heat, and bring to a rolling boil. Add the spaghetti, keeping an eye on the cooking time to ensure that the spaghetti does not overcook.
- Put the clams into a separate small saucepan with the white wine and poach gently for about 2 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside.
- Pour a generous quantity of olive oil into a small frying pan, and heat up.
- Add the garlic cloves, chillies, chopped parsley, and the lemon zest.
- Heat everything for about 3 minutes.
- Now add about ½ of the white wine the clams were cooked in.
- Continue to heat for a few minutes on a high heat to induce a slight reduction.
- Add the cooked clams to the sauce and turn the heat off completely.
- Once the pasta is cooked drain it through a sieve or colander and return to the saucepan.
- Add the salted butter to the pasta and mix through thoroughly. This will induce the sauce to thicken a little.
- Add the cooked clams to the sauce and the pasta.
- Mix up thoroughly ensuring you do not damage the clams.
- Serve in a high-sided bowl, ensuring that each guest gets their fair share of clams.
Notes, tips, and variations
[edit | edit source]- Add some cream to the sauce before serving if you like. However refrain from adding parmesan cheese. Most Italians frown on adding cheese to fish-based pasta dishes. Also, you don't have to use spaghetti. Penne works well with the spicy sauce. Linguine also works. But make sure the pasta is al dente.