Spaghetti Vongole

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500g spaghetti
• 2 jars of clams, approx. 120 g each
• ½ bottle of dry white wine, approx.
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 can of boneless sardines, approx. 120 g
• 2 medium-sized lemons
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bunch parsley, fresh
• 1 bowl of cherry tomatoes
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 25 minutes

with clams from the jar

Heat the olive oil with a splash of water in a large pan. Finely chop or press the garlic and sauté until translucent. The water prevents the garlic from burning. Add the sardines, including their liquid, squeeze the lemons and add their juice. Cook the sardines in the lemon juice over medium heat, breaking up the pieces repeatedly until a kind of porridge forms. The pieces should be no larger than the shells. Meanwhile, bring the pasta water to a boil, and don’t skimp on the salt – about one heaped tablespoon per five liters of water. This applies to all pasta: the cooked pasta should taste slightly salty. Add the vongole and any liquid from the jars, bring to a boil briefly, deglaze with white wine until the contents of the pan are lightly covered, and simmer over medium heat. Chop the parsley and add a third of it, quarter the cherry tomatoes and add them as well. Cook the spaghetti until al dente. There should always be enough liquid in the pan; if necessary, skim off some of the pasta water and add it. Just before the spaghetti is done, increase the heat. Before draining, skim off a cup of pasta water, then add the wet spaghetti to the pan and toss with the sauce over high heat. Keep adding a little from the pasta water cup and the rest of the fresh parsley. This recipe was born out of necessity, as quality, fresh vongole is hard to come by in my area. The cherry tomatoes and the lemon-sardine broth are meant to imitate the flavor of the mussel shells that naturally develops in the traditional recipe. Although it looks unappealing, the lemon-sardine broth is also suitable for other fish dishes if you want them to have a more “fishy” flavor.