Spaghetti with clams (spaghetti alle vongole)

Spaghetti alle vongole in bianco take very little: clams, garlic, parsley, oil. The sauce comes from the clams themselves, with the juices they release as they open; the oil binds it to the pasta. On the Adriatic, cooks also use the smaller clams of our coast, called lupini.

Ingredients for 4

• 360 g spaghetti
• 1 kg carpet shell clams (vongole veraci)
• 2 garlic cloves
• A bunch of parsley
• Chilli (optional)
• 5 tablespoons IL CONTE Blend, plus a drizzle of IL CONTE Raggia single variety to finish
• Salt

Method

1. If the clams have not been purged, keep them for a couple of hours in cold salted water, changing it a couple of times. Discard any with broken shells and any open ones that do not close when tapped.
2. In a wide pan, warm the Blend with the crushed garlic, the parsley stalks and, if you like, the chilli. Add the clams, cover and cook over high heat for 3–4 minutes, shaking the pan, until they open. Turn off the heat and discard any clams that stayed closed, the garlic and the stalks; if the juices are sandy, strain them.
3. Cook the spaghetti in lightly salted water, as the clam juices are already salty, and drain them 2 minutes before the time on the packet.
4. Finish cooking the spaghetti in the pan with the clams and their juices over high heat, tossing and adding a little pasta water if needed, until the sauce turns creamy.
5. Turn off the heat, add the chopped parsley and a drizzle of Raggia and serve at once. No cheese.

The right oil

The Blend goes in the pan with the clams; at the end, off the heat, a drizzle of Raggia single variety: its grassy aroma and light pepperiness are perfect with seafood.

Photo: Giulioberg, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.