I created this tangy and light summer tomato tart during the last few weeks of summer. With wine, I adore it outside. It tastes much better when you use different varieties of tomatoes, such as pear, cherry, and mini Marzano. This is ideal if you have your own garden of tomatoes or have some that you were given by a friend. Include them!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 red Thai chile pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 pounds verace clams in shell, scrubbed
- ¾ cup white wine
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a stockpot; add salt. Reduce heat to a simmer.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil, followed by chile pepper and garlic. Cook and stir gently until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove garlic and chile pepper; discard. Add clams to the fragrant oil.
- Pour wine over the clams and cover immediately. Let simmer until clams have opened, about 7 minutes. Remove clams using a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Cover to avoid losing their steam. Discard any unopened clams.
- Pour four ladles of salted water into the skillet with the juice of the clams. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add spaghetti; move around with a pasta fork to keep from sticking together. Cook, adding a ladle or two of salted water as needed to keep spaghetti barely covered, until pasta is tender yet firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Add clams and sprinkle in lemon zest. Give the skillet a hefty toss to gently mix the clams in the thickened sauce.
- Divide into four pasta bowls. Cover with parsley and serve immediately with empty plates on the side for the shells while eating.
- The skillet used must be large enough to hold all the spaghetti even when being stirred.
- The idea is like a risotto where there is just enough water to cook but not drown out the flavor by allowing the starch in the pasta to create a thick sauce. Simply add ladles of water when necessary to keep the spaghetti cooking while creating a concentrated flavored sauce. You may not need all the water.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 422 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 65 g |
| Cholesterol | 3 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 1775 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great dish, great recipe! As Nike suggests, “Just Do It!!”
If you are looking for a recipe to wow your guests, this is the one! I had never used this method for cooking pasta before and was amazed at how much flavor the pasta takes on by doing it this way. This is a meal you would pay big money for at a high end restaurant and yet it is simple enough to do in your own home. If I could give this 10 stars I would.