How to Make Pasta Vongole

You may have clicked on this article asking either what in the world is vongole or how do you make pasta vongole? To start, vongole is clam in Italian and it’s a very flavorful dish originated from Naples. For those who love to make pasta, this simple recipe can broaden your horizon of pasta recipes, and for those who are new to cooking, following this easy recipe can surprise yourself.

Prep Time/Cook Time: 15 minutes with already purged clams and extra 1-2hrs without it / 25 minutes

Serving: 4 people

Ingredients

3lb of littleneck clams or any clams (purging or without)
8 ounces of dry thin spaghetti
8 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 ½ cup of any white wine
Salt
Pepper
4 tablespoons of fresh parsley
Lemon

Optional ingredients can be:

Red pepper flakes
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Green scallions

Steps

1
Purge the clams. In a large bowl, fill a gallon of cold water, a cup of salt, and add the un-purged clams.
- Purging means cleansing or removing any sand, grit, and dirt due to living environments. It is very important to purge the clams before cooking them so that you won’t be eating any sand or dirt. Purging times can vary depending on the type of clams, but littleneck clams from grocery stores can be purged for a couple of hours.
2
After 1- 1½ hours, drain the salt-water and rinse clams in cold running water for about 5 minutes. Make sure you rub the clams together so that all the clams can be thoroughly cleaned.
- Running clams in hot water will kill them and their freshness, so be sure to use cold water.
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3
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add about 2 tablespoons of salt. Make sure that you have enough water and space for the pasta to evenly cook.
4
Cook the pasta. When the large pot of salted water is boiling, place dry pasta and cook for about 9-11minutes for al dente. It is recommended to cook al dente because the pasta will cook a little longer when it is stirred. However, if you want your pasta consistency to be softer, cook for another 2 minutes. Stir frequently for the pasta to cook evenly. DO NOT pour out the whole pasta water as it’ll be used later for seasoning purposes.
- Follow instructions on the back of the box for different types of pasta.
5
Cook the garlic. In a large saucepan on high heat, pour 8 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and place sliced garlic for about 1 minute.
6
Add the purged clams and tomatoes (optional). Pour in 1 ½ cups of white wine, and let simmer for 30 seconds.
- In this step, you can also add mushrooms as an option.
7
Shake the pan occasionally until all the clams open and lower the heat to medium. Clams should have a chewy texture.
- It’s crucial that all clams open, and if they do not after about 7min, throw them away.
8
Combine the pasta and clams. When all the clams are open and the pasta is cooked al dente, place the pasta in the large saucepan and add one cup of pasta water.
- Pasta water adds flavor and combines the pasta and the sauce together
9
Season with salt and pepper to your taste while tossing the pan.
10
Place the pasta onto a dish, pour all the sauces with clams, garnish with fresh parsley, and squeeze ¼ of a lemon per plate. Enjoy!

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