Spaghetti With Clams
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Salt
- 8 to 12littleneck or other small clams in the shell, scrubbed
- ¼pound spaghetti
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ to 1clove garlic, minced
- ½dried red chili pepper or ¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
- ⅓cup Noilly Prat or other vermouth or white wine
- 1 to 2tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
Nutritional analysis per serving (1 servings)
825 calories; 30 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 20 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 92 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 31 grams protein; 782 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, soak clams in cold water.
- Step 2
Add spaghetti to boiling water, and cook until slightly underdone; pasta will finish cooking in sauce. Meanwhile, place a large saucepan over medium-low heat, and add olive oil, garlic and chili pepper. Sauté gently, reducing heat if necessary so garlic does not brown.
- Step 3
Add vermouth and clams, and cover. Clams should open in about 2 minutes. (If pasta is ready first, drain it and toss with a small amount of olive oil.) Add hot drained pasta, cover, and shake pot gently. Allow to simmer for another 1 or 2 minutes until it is done to taste.
- Step 4
Discard any clams that have not opened. Add half the parsley, and shake pan to distribute evenly. Transfer to a plate or bowl, and sprinkle with remaining parsley.
Private Notes
Comments
When I haven't the time, inclination or supply of fresh clams, a "cheater" version is to use a couple of cans of chopped (not minced) clams from the pantry. Not quite as pretty a presentation, but the taste is there. And a couple of cloves of garlic is a plus.
I quadrupled the recipe (to make 1 pound of pasta), including the vermouth, which means 1 1/3 cups vermouth. That was a mistake! (Well, not a disaster, but the vermouth flavor was too strong.) Apparently that quantity goes over the amount that can possibly cook down. I note that a Mark Bittman recipe (in How to Cook Everything) uses 1/2 cup wine for a pound of pasta, so that would be my recommendation.
This fabulous recipe (which I prefer to Marcella Hazan's published in the Times around 2002) needs the flavorful aromatics found in Noilly Prat vermouth. I used another brand of vermouth when I made the dish last and it did not work as well.
2 minutes is not enough for clams to open. Be careful if cooking as instructed.
Here’s my take: I use fresh AND canned clams (and anchovies)… Steam open the big bag of little necks from Costco and Noilly Prat is the bomb! Remove ¾ of the clams from the shells, reserving the remainder for visual appeal when serving. For four people I use 1.5 lbs. spaghetti, linguine or bucatini (may have leftovers!) and 2 cans of clams, ideally whole, but what I can get. Add ½ can anchovies, cook down with lemon zest, juice and slice the garlic on my garlic mandoline!! Cherry tomatoes are nice toward the end and a hunk of butter; for this many people, sauce goes on the pasta w/ a bit of pasta water. Parsley!
50/50 white wine/ vermouth works best. Double garlic, more parsley & added chicken broth provides a brothier version to add to the pasta. With those additions, 5-stars for my palate!