Spaghetti alle Vongole
Spaghetti alle Vongole (Spaghetti and Clams)
This is an authentic recipe for Spaghetti alle Vongole (Italian for spaghetti and clams) shared by my Italian friend Isa. This has always been my favourite Italian pasta dish, but ordering it at a decent Italian restaurant will easily set back my wallet by S$20-30. Now, thanks to this recipe, I was thrilled that not only can I cook this at home at a fraction of the cost (with extra servings of clams), but the cooking method is also quite easy with just a few ingredients. Now I can tuck into this dish as often as I like, and the cost savings can be used to buy a good bottle of white wine to pair with my spaghetti. Buon Appetito!
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Ingredients
Serves 4
(special thanks to my Italian friend Isa for sharing this authentic Italian recipe ♥)- 320 g spaghetti
- 1 kg fresh clams (vongole) still in their shells (that’s the longest and most difficult option, but surely the best one) OR 1 jar preserved clams OR 1 pack frozen clams
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 garlic clove
- ½ glass white wine
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- 1 small piece of chili pepper (optional)
Directions
1. If you are using fresh clams, first you have to put them in salted water for a few hours so they will expel all of their sand. Then wash them, put them in a pot with nothing else, cover them and put them on the stove for a few minutes until they are all open. Let them cool and patiently remove all of them from their shells. Alternatively, you can also leave some or all in the shells for decoration. If you are using preserved or frozen clams, just skip all of the above.
2. Put a large pan with 2 tablespoons of oil and the garlic clove on the stove. When it is hot, add the clams and let them cook a little bit (not much as they are practically already cooked during the opening procedure). Add the wine and let it evaporate. Turn off the stove, remove the garlic clove and add chopped parsley and crushed pepper if you like.
3. In the mean time, cook spaghetti until “al dente”. Remember to put a little bit less of salt than usual in the water.
4. Put the drained spaghetti in the pan with the clams. Turn on the stove and shake the pan energetically to mix pasta and clams well. If the pasta is becoming too dry, you can add a little bit of its cooking water.
5. Turn off the stove and then add the remaining olive oil. This is called “olio a crudo” and gives a special touch to the dish.
6. Put into 4 pasta dishes and serve while it’s still hot!
Cooking Notes (from Isa)
1. Some people prefer to add tomatoes (either fresh chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce). I think it is much better without. If you decide to add tomatoes, then remove the wine, as tomatoes and wine don’t mix!
2. To see if pasta is “al dente”, usually the best way is to taste it, but here’s another method for unexperienced people: if you take a spaghetti string that’s cooking and cut it, you should see a white dot in the middle that’s still hard. This means the pasta is not cooked yet. As soon as the white dot disappears (but the middle part is still a bit hard), then the pasta is “al dente” and you can drain it!
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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
My all time favourite, Wiffy! Yours look so tempting….
You have made my all time favorite and get me out of what to cook recipe…I use a glass of white wine for the sauce and as I am cooking a glass or two for me….
WOW! Looks very delicious and very simple to prepare. I’m booking this for my hubby :)
Thank you for the recipes and lovely pictures.
Will try it out
Lovely tips. I agree that fresh is the best but have to make do when we don’t have it right? ;) I like what u said abt it being easy and so much cheaper to have it at home than outside!
How great to be able to make this at home and yours look divine!
Cooool! The best part about cooking this is I can put in as many clams as I like :)
I’ve just tried this dish recently in an Italian eatery and I was so surprised to find that I love it! (Normally I prefer things meaty with huge explosive flavors) Thanks for posting the recipe, I can now copy copy :D
thanks for the clam cleaning tips, i’m normally afraid of them! lovely pasta :)
Simple and delicious. I like having this without tomatoes too!
Isa shares useful tips on how to get al-dente spaghetti. Thanks.
Looks so appetizing and flavoursome!
I prefer fresh clams for this. I cooked similar dish recently too and can you even imagine how “lazy” my cooking of vongole can be? But it turned out to my liking!
I love lazy ;) as long as it’s delicious, the lazier the better hehe
This is delicious! I love clams and this will make a wonderful meal for me :)
I’ve been wanting to try such a pasta dish for a while. Yours looks great!
Spaghetti alle Vongole is so much cheaper to make at home! I don’t remember the last time I ordered it in a restaurant, but I am sure that I felt a little regret over paying so much for a simple to make dish. Anyway, now I am wanting to make this at home very soon. I love clams so much!
You’re so lucky to get this recipe from an Italian friend. I must learn it too since it’s my favourite as well as cost saving. Your dish looks very flavourful and tasty with the fresh herbs and chilli. ;)
This pasta dish looks really delicious. Simple but definitely not short on flavours.
Awwwww, vongole is my fave!
It is perfect with white wine ^_- Yum!
Love it. My favorite pasta dish.
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes! Clams, garlic, chile flakes are so good together. Looks fantastic!
This is my partner’s fave pasta dish but I’ve yet to summon the courage to try cooking it myself. I guess the trick is to finding fresh clams and not to overcook them?
Dish out the clams once they are opened, you won’t overcook them in that way :)
Wow, is it really as simple as it looks? I’ve been craving for vongole for a while. I never order it in restaurants, though, as it’s never been the strong suit of any restaurants locally (not speaking of Garibaldi or any of those). I’ve read some recipes use clam juice though, does that make a difference?
if there are any clam juice from steaming the clams, definitely add them to the noodles, the juice adds a lot of flavour!
thank you for the recipe.
i cooked the dish with my boyfriend and we simply love it! SGD$24 for 3 person (including his mum’s share). we throw in mango clams, prawns and white clams..
really very nice.
Discovered this cheap & fruity white chadronnay (La Terre) at just SGD$12/bottle.
will definitely cook this more frequently.
mango clams? sounds interesting!
I bought cheap white wine for cooking whenever there’s a sale at the supermarket. Also along the range of S$12. btw, I think fruity is usually more suitable for cooking desserts because it is sweet. If you can, next time try dry white wine and you may find the flavour more complimentry for vongole ;)
Hi, I super love your blog cos it really helps me alot cos I am a Noob too when it comes to cooking.
Can I ask you what kind of white wine I should be using for this dish? cos me and my partner are not really drinkers of white wine, and the usage is only half a glass.
So I wonder if I should use buy a bottle just to cook this dish?
Wuhahahah
since you guys are not really wine drinkers, I think you can omit the wine. The aroma is subtle. But if you are buying, try to get dry white wine that is not the fruity or sweet type :)
Thanks for yr cooking tip. My spaghetti is either too hard or soft. I could never get the texture right. Will try again.
Usually I follow the timing indicated in the package and off the stove once the timing is up. It usually don’t look cooked but it is, perfectly al dente – slightly hard with a bite :)
For the garlic clove.. Hmmm can just use chopped garlic? Or do I really have to remove it from pan after that?
To me, cooking should be flexible. so if you prefer to, I think it’s fine to use chopped garlic too :)
May i know the brand of olive oil you used? Thanks!! :DD
I buy any brand that’s on sale on NTUC … usually I buy Borges but other brands will do too :)
Hi wify, after I drain the clams from salted water, you mentioned to put in pot with nothing else and put on stove for few minutes till open. The heat to on small heat or big heat?
Use medium high heat. Cover with lid, and they should all be open within minutes. Hope this helps.
I just ate a similar seafood spaghetti in Bangkok recently, look at this, inspire me to try this out at home.
Hi Noobcook,
I’m a total noob when it comes to wine, so what exactly is dry white wine? Perhaps you could help me out by naming what white is suitable, i.e. Chadronnay (as seen in the comments).. Thanks a mil.
Gerous
Hi Gerous, from my limited knowledge of wines, not all chardonnay are dry, therefore you have to read the label because it will indicate clearly if the wine is dry or otherwise. A common type of dry white wine is dry vermouth (they do have the sweet variety too so have to read the label). For me, I usually grab any white wine that is on sale, dry preferred, but if I can’t find dry, make sure that the wine is not fruity or sweet as they are more suitable for desserts than a savoury dish like vongole. Hope this helps.
Hi.
Am just wondering what shd I use instead of white wine? Is there a substitute that will not change the overall taste of the pasta?
Reallky appreciate your feedback/comments.
Thanks.
Marhamah
Singapore
Hi Marhamah, it will be all right without the wine. If you really want to, you can substitute with some seafood stock but it’s not really necessary.