Mirella's Spaghetti alle Vongole

🧂 Ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh small clams
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil

  divided
• 3 cloves garlic

  2 flattened with knife blade; 1 finely minced
• 1 pkg Knorr concentrated seafood gel

  or substitute 1 bottle clam juice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 lb imported Italian dried spaghetti
• 1 tbsp salt

  for pasta water
• 3 tbsp parsley

  finely minced

Instructions

• 1 Soak clams for several hours in salted water, changing the salt water three
  times, or until there's no more sediment, to release grit. Rinse well.
• 2 In a wok or pot big enough to hold the final dish, gently heat 1/4 cup of olive
  oil. Sauté the 2 flattened cloves of garlic until lightly golden. Remove garlic.
  (You can eat it later if you want.)
• 3 In the same wok, dissolve 1 small container of Knorr concentrated seafood gel
  into 1 cup of warm water. (If not available, use a small bottle of clam juice.)
  Add dry white wine. Bring to a rolling boil.
• 4 Add clams and bring back to a boil. After 10 minutes, turn off heat. These can
  wait while you're having your first course.
• 5 Boil a large pot of water for pasta. Add salt. Cook dried spaghetti (spaghettini
  and linguine are fine, too, but don't use fresh pasta). Bring clam sauce back to
  a rolling boil. When pasta is a minute shy of al dente, drain and add directly
  into wok of boiling clam sauce.
• 6 Bring back to a boil and toss. Cook for 20 seconds. Turn off heat. Mirella
  doesn't do this, but I add a clove of finely minced raw garlic. The heat of the
  sauce will modulate the garlic, but it will still taste garlicky. Splash on the
  remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Toss well. Sprinkle with minced parsley and
  serve immediately - right out of the pot.

Nutrition Info