Artificial Flavors Free Spaghetti alle Vongole
Few dishes capture the soul of coastal Italian cooking the way this briny, garlicky pasta does. The sauce builds itself naturally from the clam liquor released during cooking, white wine, and a generous pour of good olive oil — no flavor packets, no seasoning blends, nothing artificial standing between you and the real thing. That's actually what makes this dish so satisfying to cook: every bit of depth comes from genuinely whole ingredients, so you know exactly what's in the bowl. Thinly sliced garlic and red pepper flakes bloom in olive oil, the wine reduces into something silky, and the clams do the rest of the heavy lifting. Finishing the spaghetti directly in the pan lets the pasta absorb all that savory liquid and starch it into a sauce that clings to every strand. A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil at the end keep things bright and clean. Serve it immediately with a wedge of lemon and you've got a weeknight dinner that tastes like it took years to learn.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 2 lb littleneck clams (about 24 clams), scrubbed
- 1 lb spaghetti
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for finishing
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¾ cup dry white wine (such as pinot grigio or vermentino)
- ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- salt
For serving
- lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the scrubbed clams in a large bowl of cold salted water and let them soak for 30 minutes to purge any sand. Drain and rinse well.
- 2
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente — the pasta should still have a firm, chalky center. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water, then drain the spaghetti.
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