Spaghetti with clams (Spaghetti con le vongole) is a very common dish in any place in Italy which is close enough to the sea. The best kind of clams are the large and juicy vongole veraci, a cornerstone of the traditional Neapolitan cousine.

RECIPE

Scrub the clams very well under cold water and then let them soak in a bowl with cold water and salt (7 g of salt for 1 lt of water) for at least 1 hr.
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil.
Drain the clams. Put a large frying pan on the stove at a medium/low heat. Add oil and garlic, mix together using a wooden spoon. When the garlic is lightly browned, add the clams. Put the lid on top and leave it to heat up. Mix them so that all the clam shells open (~5 min). Get rid of any clams that haven’t opened.
Turn up the heat, pour the wine. In few minutes the wine will evaporate.
Remove clams from the pan, remove the shells from half of them and set them aside.
Line a strainer with 2 coffee filter and ladle through the clam juice, making sure not to ladle the juice from the bottom of the pan that might contain sand. Reserve the juice.
In the meantime, when water is boiling, add salt. Cook the pasta al dente. (following the cooking time on the package).
Add the clams and the reserved juice in a large frying pan, cover and heat while you drain the pasta. Add the pasta in the pan with the clams, season with parsley and pepper. Toss well to combine. Serve the pasta immediately.