SPAGHETTI WITH CLAMS
Old skool! Spaghetti with clams (okay, some are cockles) (okay, the clams are all from cans).
Recipe (serves 2):
225 grams good spaghetti - and like that youtube video above, don't use anything but real spaghetti or linguini
1 can Bumble Bee (nee Snow's) Clams
1 can Matiz Berberechos (see below)
1 nice fresh clove of garlic, sliced thin like that scene in Goodfellas where Paulie is slicing the garlic in jail
Crushed Red Pepper - let's say 1/4 - 1/2 tsp.
Handful of chopped parsley, chopped even finer than I did
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - let's say 3 - 4 T
Salt - you won't need much - these clams are a little salty
Pepper - if I have to tell you how much, and if I have to tell you freshly ground, oy
Fry up the garlic and crushed red pepper and some of the parsley in the olive oil till garlic is lightly browned, not burnt. Add the juice from both cans to this pan, and drop the spaghetti into another pan containing boiling, lightly (in this case lightly, because the clams are already pretty salty) salted water. Reduce the juices while the spaghetti is cooking - I use Setaro spaghetti, which takes about 10 minutes.
When your spaghetti is almost done, remove it with tongs into the pan where you are making the sauce. At the same time, add all the clammy stuff to that pan (and a little pasta water - like 1/4 cup). Keep tossing pasta and clams till almost all the sauce (i.e. liquid) is absorbed - if there's not a lot of juice left in the pan, this is when your pasta water comes in handy, and also why you don't just dump the pasta into a colander in the sink (unless you save some of the pasta cooking water). Add some pepper. Taste it - see if it has enough salt - if it doesn't, what are you smoking?
Plate it, sprinkle a little more parsley on top, enjoy with let's say a crisp, white wine from Lazio. Or the Veneto.
