Spaghetti and clams in 10 minutes

Spaghetti and clams is surely the easiest dish to prepare, but for some reason it seems people just shake their head when I suggest that they can prepare it themselves. Perhaps that could be because there are some pretty terrible recipes out there from what I have seen so far!

Besides some small tricks that I’ll add here, the most important thing is the selection of the spaghetti and the clams.

Many readers ask about which spaghetti brand to use. I’ll surely prepare a list in the future, but my main suggestion is not to buy cheap spaghetti. If you would like to replace the spaghetti with linguine it’s really good too - and has a very similar taste as well. Also, verify that on the box it says that it is 100% made in Italy. I personally have tried spaghetti similar to the Italian varieties, but not made in Italy, and the results were always very disappointing. Also, avoid the organic variety: for some strange reason I couldn’t find any good pasta products in that category.

For the clams, I suggest that you locate a store that provides a high quality, fresh product in your area. Old clams taste awful and may also be unhealthy. Be sure to select the smallest, high quality clams. I have found that clams about the size of a candy are very appropriate for the spaghetti dish but also pretty rare to find. You may need at least 10 clams per person (or per 3 oz of pasta) if there are more than three people, otherwise count 15 clams per person (or per 3 oz of pasta). According to my experience, it’s always convenient to count one additional person just in case as “back-up” after the guest’s compliments ;)

In addition to the spaghetti and clams, prepare some fresh parsley, garlic, Italian white wine (half cup per person) , black pepper, and one little red chili pepper. Another fundamental ingredient is the extra virgin olive oil, which together with clam juice becomes a light, juicy and creamy sauce for the spaghetti. I’ll write more about selecting olive oil and wines later, so for now we’ll use the same basic guideline to buy better quality, but at reasonable price ;) Stay tuned!

The type of wine you choose influences the taste of your sauce. My favorite wine to use to prepare this clam sauce is the Franciacorta white brut wine (yes, the sparkling white wine used to toast). However both Trebbiano and Etna Bianco are good, along with the hundreds of similar wines within that appellation. Avoid American Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, which I have found too fruity for cooking.

Clam preparation: keep in water for awhile as convenient for you (from 10 minutes up to 2 hours), after having rinsed the clams at least three times as follows: fill up the container with water and the clams, you may add a little salt to help them release the sand, then shake the clams and rinse. Washing clams very well is very important to avoid that uncomfortable sand chewing sensation.

Heat up the salted water for the spaghetti, keeping in mind that spaghetti needs plenty of water. I suggest 3 oz of spaghetti per person, which is the typical size of pasta served per dish in Italy.

Once the water starts boiling, lower the heat and start the clam sauce preparation: prepare the sliced garlic at your convenience and mix garlic, sliced fresh chili, and oil in a pot big enough to contain twice the size of the clams and with a perfect fitting lead. Use half of a garlic cloves and about 1/3 cup of oil per person in addition to half cup of oil as the base amount. Let them heat up until the smallest piece of garlic become “blond”. Add the wine to stop the garlic cooking. Pay attention for this part, since the cold wine and hot oil may produce a burning steam that is dangerous for your skin.

Measure half a cup of wine per person, and wait until it starts boiling before adding the clams until the wine alcohol is completely evaporated. Then add the clams, close the lid immediately after adding the clams and wait until all of the clams have completely opened. Unopened clam should be removed and discarded. The clam opening time depends on many factors, but keep in mind that at least 3 minutes of boiling in the pot are necessary to open and cook the smallest clams. After 3 minutes you can open the lid to check the clams, then mix the clams in the pot with a big wood (to avoid breaking the shells) spoon from the bottom toward the top in order to swap the clams in the bottom with the ones on the top. Keep the lid on while not mixing the clams. Proceed until clams are all opened.

Spread the chopped parsley (at least a spoon per person) into the mixture and add pepper- about 1/4 teaspoon per person (in Italian I would say:”a tip of tea spoon”) or as much as you prefer when clams are still in the pot. The black pepper quantity changes according to personal diet and tolerance in Italian recipe as well. Mix everything and turn off the heat.

Return to the salted water and put the spaghetti in the water once it reaches boiling, measuring 3 oz (no more than 4 oz) of spaghetti per person.

While the spaghetti is cooking, you may want to remove the pulp from about 1/3 of the clams and mix with the sauce. However if you like to use few clam shells only for decoration, then just leave a few shells per dish. Just discard the remaining empty shells.

Once the spaghetti is ready (al dente), keep two cups of the boiling spaghetti water aside, rinse the spaghetti and mix only the spaghetti with the pre-prepared clam sauce in the pot of the clams. Turn on the heat for just one minute, mix the spaghetti very well with the clams, and add a little of the saved boiling water if spaghetti seems too dry (this varies according to very personal preferences).

You will notice that we do not have a picture of the finished spaghetti with clams dish. This is because once everything was ready at the table, my guests hid my camera to gently nudge me to start the most important part: eating the spaghetti and clams. I’ll add a picture pretty soon ;)

Buon appetito!

Enjoy your day with a little break of Italian dolce vita!

Matteo