Spaghetti alle Vongole - Rosso
By: Tom and Anita Morgan
Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 10:14am

Ingredients




2 # little-neck clams, rinsed in cold water. Discard any that are open.
16 large cherry tomatoes, cut in half
8 oz dry spaghetti
3-4 T extra virgin olive oil
½ C white wine
3 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 T unsalted butter
1 shallot, chopped fine
2 pinches red pepper flakes
Some Italian parsley

Preparation

1 1. Put the butter, 2 T of the olive oil and the diced shallot into a 12 inch pan and saute over medium-high heat until they get soft and translucent. 2 2. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the tomatoes, garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and saute for two minutes; stop before tomatoes start to wrinkle. 3 3. Start the spaghetti cooking in oiled and salted water. 4 4. Add the white wine and clams to the pan, and bring to a low boil covered for 10 to 15 minutes or until the clams open and the wine is reduced. Note: Discard any clams that didn't open completely as they were not healthy. 5 5. When spaghetti is cooked, rinse, drain and shake to remove excess moisture. 6 6. Turn the pan heat off, add in the spaghetti, 2 T of chopped parsley and 1 or 2 T olive oil and mix until everything is coated with the sauce. Then serve immediately.

About

Spaghetti alle Vongole - Rosso...actually which means spaghetti with clams and tomatoes. We thought we would go back to the roots of this wonderful dish and prepare it as close as we could to the version served in Southern Italy. As a result, we came up with a recipe that seems to embody the spirit of the dish as well as we can understand it. It was delicious and definitely different with a much lighter tomato flavor allowing the flavors of the clams, shallots, garlic and olive oil to come through.