This timeless pasta dish combines the rich flavours of fresh Vongole in a refreshing and light tomato sauce, reminiscent of Italy's sun-soaked shores. Homemade tomato pasta sauce provided in the notes below.
Servings: 3, mains
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
• 750g vongole (clams/cockles)
• 200g spaghetti
• 1 shallot
• 3 garlic cloves
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
• 100ml tomato pasta sauce (or passata)
• 100ml chicken stock
• 1/2 cup chopped Cilantro (or flat-leaf parsley)
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon Fantasea-salt (extra salt for boiling pasta)
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorn
Instructions
1. Clean vongole,
2. In a large pan, soft simmer the cherry tomatoes, diced garlic and shallots in evoo.
3. Deglaze with chicken stock.
4. Add Fantasea-salt and cracked pepper.
5. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
6. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions in salted boiling water, reducing the cooking time by a minute or so.
7. Add vongole to the pan, cover with a lid, and simmer for an additional 4 minutes, shaking to evenly cook.
8. Stir and remove shells where the meat has come away. Discard any unopened vongole.
9. Add in the pasta sauce.
10. Using tongs, add the spaghetti to the sauce along with 1/2 cup of starchy water. Allow the pasta to cook for an additional 2 minutes and infuse.
11. Mix in cilantro (or parsley).
12. Serve immediately, dividing between 3 bowls.
13. Snap your pic for the gram then dive right in! 📸🍝
Notes
• Remove leaves from stems before roughly chopping cilantro.
• If you'd rather enjoy your meal without the shells, extract all the meat before proceeding to step 9, where you add in the pasta sauce.
• Replace the chicken stock for fish stock, if preferred.
For the homemade pasta sauce
Heat a small amount of evoo in a saucepan. Simmer a quarter of a diced brown onion, a teaspoon of tomato paste, and couple of plump fresh tomatoes, add in some chicken stock. Add a pinch of salt and raw sugar, and some fresh basil leaves broken up by hand. Allow the flavours to meld as the sauce simmers for around 20 minutes and the tomatoes have reduced (5 minutes if using canned tomatoes). Alternatively, using a regular Passata would suffice.