My version of Spaghetti alle Vongole, is with whole wheat Linguine and Manila clams.
Ingredients needed are as follows,
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- Red pepper flakes
- about 4 table spoons of olive oils, you can change this as you feel
- 1 to 2 lbs. of clams, you can use Manila clams as I did
- Grated Pecorino Romano cheese this is optional
- 1 small package of Barilla whole wheat thin Linguine pasta, but you can use any type of spaghetti
- one cup of white dry wine
- some roughly chopped parsley or cilantro ( you can totally substitute one for another)
Instructions:
Start by finely chopping the garlic cloves then heat a medium size skillet , cook the garlic with the olive oil that we had until golden. Meanwhile bring about 5 quarts of water to boil and don't forget to add some salt to it.
When we have our garlic cooked to golden color add the pepper flakes and cook for 20 more seconds , then add the wine, when the wine starts to boil add the clams then cover your skillet and wait till all the clams open up and release their juices. Then take the clams out using a pair of tongs and transfer them into a bowl, and make sure to discard the ones that they have not opened as they are no good and dead from the beginning. Start adding the pasta to the sauce, mix it well with the sauce. Then start adding our roughly chopped parsley/cilantro and toss the pasta some more then add the clams and combine, our super awesome dish is ready and we are ready to enjoy, and one last step add the grated pecorino to the top of pasta and enjoy it.
One last tip about buying and cleaning clams, when buying clams make sure they are closed and not opened , or chipped, these clams are dead and they should not be used. When you buy your clams make sure to open the bag put them in a cool area in a bowl so they can breathe. Soak them in water for at least an hour as the clams will take in the clean water and release sand and the salt water out of their shells. Then take a plastic brush and gently scrub the shells, this will help removing of additional sand and other oceanic attachments. Your clams are ready to be cooked.
