How to make spaghetti alle vongole

Food writer Anastasia Miari has collected recipes from grandmothers across the Med for new her cookbook Mediterranea, here she shares Nonna Luisa’s recipe for clam pasta.

“Nonna Luisa is a proud Napoletana. She lives at the very heart of the city on the coastal road and waxes lyrical about the tomatoes she has sourced for the spaghetti alle vongole dish she’s cooking with me today. ‘This is from Vesuvius, I don’t just use any old tomato,’ she says, frowning, when I ask her if I might use Pomodorini in place of the pointy-ended tomatoes she adds to her vongole. When we are ready to add the clams to the dish, I realise that they’re still alive in their shells,” says food writer and journalist Anastasia Miari, author of new cookbook, Mediterranea.

“One pokes its tiny little sucker out of the shell for a second before noticing us and Nonna Lusia starts jiggling it around on the plate, trying – and failing – to get it to come out again.

This is how fresh the seafood is in Naples. You buy your clams in the morning at the market and in the afternoon, they’re still alive and wistfully searching for the sea.

“Spaghetti alle vongole is my favourite of all the pasta dishes this planet has to offer. It is a great privilege to be able to make this dish using Nonna Luisa’s recipe because, despite having tried and tested many versions along the Italian coastline, this surely is the best one I’ve ever had. I adore the added pinch of peperoncino, a little spice that reflects Nonna Luisa’s passionate persona. It takes very little time to make and is an impressive one to serve up for dinner once you master it.”

Spaghetti alle vongole

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

400g cherry tomatoes
1 heaped tbsp sea salt, plus extra to taste
350g spaghetti
60ml olive oil
4 garlic cloves, halved and germs removed
1/2 bunch of parsley, stems and leaves separated, and leaves finely chopped
2 small dried chillies
850g vongole clams, washed

Method:

1. First, make a one centimetre deep incision in the shape of a cross in the top of each tomato, then set aside.

2. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil for the pasta. Once at a rolling boil, add the salt, then the spaghetti. Make a note of the cooking time on the packet and set a timer for two minutes before the end of the suggested cooking – it will finish cooking in the pan with the clams.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep frying pan over a low heat and fry the garlic, parsley stems and chillies for five minutes, then remove the garlic, parsley and chilli from the pan using a slotted spoon and discard them. Add the tomatoes to the pan, increasing the heat to medium and cover. Allow the tomatoes to steam in their own juices for about four minutes, then add the clams, cover again and cook for a minute or so. Add a scant ladle of pasta cooking water to the pan and continue to cook until the clams have opened – discard any that don’t. Use a slotted spoon to remove some of the clams and set aside.

4. Drain the pasta, then quickly add it to the pan, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Divide between plates and add the reserved clams, plus a sprinkling of parsley leaves. Eat immediately.

Mediterranea by Anastasia Miari with photographs by Marco Argüello, is published by Quadrille, priced £28. Available July 31.

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