Food & Drinks

Now that you have time: the tastiest Vongole for home

Pasta on a plate with shellfish vongole

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands of online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our chefs serve you the recipe for the tastiest pasta vongole.

One of the reasons we love Italian cuisine so much is the simplicity of the dishes that achieve such irresistible results. Spaghetti alle vongole (pronounced as wóngolee) is one such dish. An absolute holiday favorite when you're in Italy, but also very easy to make at home.

Ingredients

  • vongole (small shellfish, also known as Venus clams) in the shell, 500 g
  • a glass of white wine
  • spaghetti, 300 g
  • garlic, 2 cloves
  • olive oil, 3 tablespoons
  • flat-leaf parsley, a small bunch
  • pepper
  • lemon
  • Parmesan cheese (not traditional, but hey, if you like it...).

Preparation:

1. Brush the clams clean and discard broken ones or clams that do not close properly. Then soak them in a bowl of cold water for half an hour to remove sand and dirt.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the spaghetti. Once the water is boiling: add salt to the boiling water and also add the spaghetti. Cook al dente, firm to the bite.

3. Drain the clams.

4. Peel the garlic and slice the cloves into thin slices.

5. In another large pan, sauté the garlic in the olive oil. Be careful, the garlic should not change color, as it will become bitter.

6. Also chop the parsley finely.

7. Then add the parsley and the clams to the garlic. Turn the heat up high and add a pinch of salt and the glass of wine. Cover and let it boil for 1 minute.

8. Lower the heat and let everything simmer with the lid on the pan until all the clams are open. Add the pasta and let it boil for another minute.

9. Grind a little black pepper over it and mix in some more olive oil. Stir everything together and serve in (heated) deep plates.

10. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish as a finishing touch. And if there are no Italians around: feel free to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top.

Wine tip
With a truly Italian dish, you naturally drink a truly Italian wine. We go for a Pinot Grigio, the wine that lets the sun shine. The fresh and super juicy Tussock Jumper Pinot Grigio makes us instantly happy. A tavola!

Text: FavorFlav