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.
I made 4 portions with 1 lb. of pasta. I doubled the amount of garlic and add lemon zest. I also added a bit of heavy cream at the end to coat the pasta a tiny bit. Noilly Prat has a very nice aroma. It was as good as restaurant's.
This is really good. Clams took longer than 2 minutes to open. Approx doubled for 1 lb of pasta, using 2/3 c dry white wine. Also added a can of chopped clams with the juice and 2/3 c of the pasta water.
A treat! Definitely add a minced shallot or onion to the pan, though. Amazing with fresh pasta. Do not use canned clams, the whole point of this is to make the clams shine. Also beware this is (oddly) written for 1 serving. Adjust as necessary.
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