Spaghetti Vongole

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4

Actor and cookbook author Stanley Tucci first fell in love with this pasta dish years ago at Sette MoMA, a restaurant in New York’s Museum of Modern Art that overlooked the museum’s sculpture garden. “I would often go there to write, as they were kind enough to let me stay at a table for long periods of time and order very little,” Tucci explains. “Without fail, I would have this dish. I loved the way they prepared it: with a touch of fresh tomato and peperoncini.” Tucci recommends seeking out small clams at the fish market, as they are the sweetest.

Ingredients

1 kg fresh vongole (clams)
1 Tbs. cornmeal
500 g spaghetti
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
2 to 4 small dried Italian peperoncini
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus more for serving
1 tsp. local honey or maple syrup, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. peeled and grated fresh turmeric, or a dash of ground turmeric
About 3/4 cup (180 ml) sparkling water
The slightest crack of black pepper (optional)
Small pinch of Himalayan pink salt (optional)

Directions:

First, clean the clams, discarding any with broken shells or that won’t close when you tap them. Place them in a large bowl of cold water with the cornmeal for about half an hour. Then drain and rinse to wash away any grit or sand.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the garlic and the peperoncini, and cook until the garlic is fragrant but not coloured. Raise the heat to medium and add the clams, shaking the pan and stirring to coat them in the oil and garlic. Add a good amount of salt and ground pepper. Add the parsley and toss to coat the clams once more. Cover the pan and cook, shaking the pan every so often until the clams are open and cooked, about 3 minutes. Discard any that do not open.
When the pasta and the clams are done, drain the spaghetti, put it in the pan with the clams and toss it through. Garnish with a little extra chopped fresh parsley and serve at once. Serves 4.
Recipe adapted from The Tucci Table, by Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt, with Kay Plunkett-Hogge (Gallery Books, 2014, and Orion, 2015)

Spaghetti Vongole