Spaghetti Alle Vongole

This is a dish that is extremely close to my soul. When visiting my family in Taormina, Sicily, it is often served. It took a lot of eating Spaghetti alle Vongole to understand how to create a subtle flavor by seasoning the olive oil. While Italian American versions of this dish are tomato heavy, the Sicilian style uses very few tomatoes ⏤ just enough to add a tinge of color and flavor. The spaghetti is lightly dressed in this flavored oil, if you will, creating a delicious complement to the fresh clams. It is extremely important to use high-quality olive oil for this recipe.

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Spaghetti alle Vongole

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• Author: Victoria
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Description

Surprisingly, I don’t salt this dish very much. I usually only salt the pasta water.  The clams are salty enough where the addition of salt would be an overload. 

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Ingredients

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• Good quality cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (I use Lucini Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil first press)
• 3 finely chopped shallots 
• 4–6 cloves of garlic (finely minced) 
• 1–2 tsp of hot red pepper flakes (Or as much as you want. I usually eye ball it.)
•  1 28 oz can of whole peeled San Marzano canned tomatoes (Must be San Marzano!) Note: Don’t add the entire can, just about 8-9 tomatoes removed from the tomato juice. 
• 1/2 cup of Chardonnay (Average to good quality such as J. Lohr or Kendall Jackson) Don’t skimp on cooking wine ever!  
• 40 littleneck clams or 60 Manila clams (Manila clams are smaller and sweeter.) Use as many or as little that you want to serve each person. I find these numbers are good starting points. 
•  Barilla Thin Spaghetti (Any thin, dry pasta will work. Fresh pasta might not have the al dente consistency that is desired here.)
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley

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Instructions

1. Rinse clams in water. Put clams in a bowl filled with cold water and let sit for 5 minutes. Do this around 2 times or until water is clear and free from sediment. 
2. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large high sided pan over medium high heat. Be liberal with the olive oil throughout the process and add more when needed. 
3. Add in shallots. Cook for about one minute. 
4. Add garlic, cook just until fragrant. 
5. Add hot red pepper flakes. 
6. Add the tomatoes. I squeeze the tomato in the can first to get out the extra juices. If you’d like it saucier, you can skip this. (I usually have the tomato can open so the garlic doesn’t burn.) I use 7-8 tomatoes depending on the amount of guests. I add more or less juice from the squeezed tomatoes according to my preferences, but you don’t want a tomato sauce. You are looking for the slight orange tinge that the tomatoes will give the dressed pasta. Let the tomatoes cook for about 2 minutes to get the raw flavor out. 
7. Add Chardonnay 
8. Add as many clams as you can fit in the pan at the moment, and put the lid on. Increase burner to high heat. 
9. As soon as clams start to open, take them out and put them in a reserved bowl. Cover with foil so they don’t get cold. Repeat. 
10. Examine the sauce after the clams are removed. Too watery? Turn up the heat to reduce the liquid. Too dry? Add more olive oil. You can never really have enough olive oil. Usually at this point, the sauce has a bit too much liquid, so I usually cook it down for a few minutes and then add more olive oil. I’ll even add another tomato if it needs it. 
11. Salt pasta water, cook pasta al dente. 
12. Drain pasta, and add to sauce. I usually finish with a bit more olive oil at this time, and check if the dish needs more salt. 
13. Add clams back in to warm them. 
14. Serve in shallow bowl and top with sprinkled parsley. 
15. Enjoy!

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Cuisine: Italian