Spaghetti alle Vongole

Ingredients

• 1.2kg live clams, ideally vongole veraci
• 400g spaghetti
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 dried red chilli
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil
• 80ml dry white wine
• A generous handful of flat-leaf parsley
• 70g fine salt, for purging the clams
• 1 tbsp coarse salt, for the pasta water

Before you cook

• Dissolve the fine salt in 2 litres of cold water and submerge the clams for at least 3 hours in the fridge, changing the water twice, so they spit out their sand
• Tap any clam that stays open and discard it if it does not close
• Slice two garlic cloves thinly and leave the other two whole and flattened
• Chop the parsley leaves finely and keep the stalks
• Crumble the dried chilli

Steps

1. Drain the purged clams and rinse them under cold running water.
2. Warm half the olive oil in a wide lidded pan over medium-high heat with the two flattened garlic cloves and the parsley stalks.
3. Add the clams and pour in the white wine, then clamp on the lid.
4. Cook the clams for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan every so often, until they have all opened.
5. Tip the clams into a colander set over a bowl so you catch every drop of their liquor.
6. Discard any clam that stayed shut.
7. Pick the meat from about three quarters of the clams and leave the rest in their shells for the plate.
8. Pour the collected clam liquor slowly through a fine sieve, leaving the last gritty spoonful behind.
9. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the coarse salt.
10. Wipe out the wide pan and warm the remaining olive oil with the sliced garlic and chilli over low heat.
11. Cook the garlic for 2 minutes until it is barely golden and fragrant.
12. Pour in the strained clam liquor and let it bubble for a minute.
13. Drop the spaghetti into the boiling water and cook it for two thirds of the packet time.
14. Lift the spaghetti straight into the clam pan with tongs, carrying a little pasta water with it.
15. Finish cooking the pasta in the pan over medium heat for 3 minutes, tossing constantly and adding pasta water until the sauce turns milky and clings.
16. Return all the clam meat and the shell-on clams to the pan and toss for 30 seconds to warm through.
17. Stir in the chopped parsley off the heat and serve at once.
18. Taste before adding any salt, because the clam liquor is already seasoned.