Spaghettini Vongole – à la di Stasio

• 2 T each olive oil, butter
• 6 scallions, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 1 c fish stock, clam juice or lobster bisque
• 1 lb spaghettini, cooked al dente
• 9.5 oz jarred Italian clams, drained
• 1/4 c finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 t sea salt
• lemon zest
• freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

• 12 fresh clams, steamed open in 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 red chili pepper, seeded, finely chopped

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and cook scallions for 2 minutes. Add garlic, hot pepper flakes and clam juice and simmer to reduce. Season with salt. Add clams, hot pasta, butter, pepper, parsley and zest, tossing to combine. Garnish with steamed clams  — discarding any that don’t open — and red chili pepper. Ta dah! Serves 5-6.

Spaghettini Vongole Print Ready Recipe

Final notes:

• Got a moment to read some stories about clams?
• Any idea what makes clams happy?
• Here are 2 obscure clam facts:
  • If you take a dried-out clam or mussel and put it back into the water, it will quickly open up and start taking in as much water as it can in order to get lots of oxygen and remove any waste. After 12 hours, it will be completely back to normal.
  • Bivalves are kind of like trees. You can figure out their age by counting the number of growth lines on their shells, just like the rings of a tree trunk.