Clam Spaghetti
This is my personal spin on one of my all-time favorite authentic Italian dishes. The traditional dish in Italy is called Spaghetti alle Vongole. However in this dish I added a few ingredients such as butter and shallots to add another layer of richness to this dish. Enjoy!
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Shallot, minced
- 4 cloves Fresh Garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
- 1 cup Dry White Wine
- 2 pounds Little Neck Clams, cleaned
- 1/2 pound Dry Spaghetti or Linguini
- 1/4 cup Preserved Pasta Water
Instructions
- Before cooking, be sure to properly clean your clams and ensure they are free of all sand or silt. To begin, bring a pot of water up to boil for your pasta. Next, grab a sauté pan to begin the clam sauce. I recommend preparing the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure the pasta will be ready to add to the sauce once it is al dente.
- To prepare clam sauce, melt 2 tbsp of butter and stir in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Next sauté shallots until they begin to sweat, then add minced garlic. Do not allow garlic to brown. Once garlic is fragrant, add 1 cup of dry white wine and red pepper flakes. Allow mixture to come to a simmer to allow alcohol to cook off. When ready, add fresh clams to the sauté pan, cover with a lid and allow the clams to simmer in the sauce for 5-7 minutes. At this point, your pasta should be boiling as well in lightly salted water. (NOTE: You do not need to heavily salt your pasta water this time since the clams have a natural salt taste to them as well)
- The mouths of the clams should begin to open during the simmering process. If they do not open after 5-7 minutes, there's a possibility they were dead before you started cooking. If so, do not eat these, simply discard.
- Remove clams from sauce and add al dente pasta to the sauté pan. If you need to stretch your sauce a bit, add a few tablespoons of pasta water as well. Toss pasta in clam sauce. Once pasta is fully covered in sauce, re-add clams to the pan as well and toss a few times more. You may even decide to shuck a few of your cooked clams for ease of eating just before serving. Top off your dish with freshly chopped parsley, serve immediately and enjoy!