Toasted Spaghetti with Clams

Toasted Spaghetti with Clams

tags (edit): Food & Wine Magazine @Vogel @Try Soon! Pasta Seafood Main Dish

Adria Farran credits the idea for this dish to one of his acolytes, Moreno Cedroni, the hyper-creative chef at La Madonnina del Pescatore in Italy's Marzocca di Senigallia. The method is very similar to risotto, but spaghetti fills in for the arborio rice: Adria toasts it in a pan with a little oil, then adds hot clam juice until the pasta is fully cooked and loaded with briny flavor.

Ingredients

3 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 pound Spaghetti Broken Into 2-Inch Lengths
2 ea cloves Garlic Minced
to taste Crushed Red Pepper
3 cups Bottled Clam Broth
1 cup Water
3 ounce Littleneck Clams Rinsed
1/4 cup Flat Leaf Parsley Minced

Instructions
In a large deep skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the spaghetti and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and a large pinch of crushed red pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the clam broth and water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly and cook over moderate heat until the pasta is barely al dente, about 8 minutes.

Nestle the clams into the pasta, cover and cook until the pasta is al dente and the clams open, about 7 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of water if the pasta is too dry. Stir in the parsley and serve.

WINE: A light, zingy, minerally Albarino from Rias Baixas has the acidity to balance the briny clams. Try the 2003 Mar de Frades or the 2003 Salnesur Adegas Condes de Albarei.

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Yields: 4 Servings
     FOOD & WINE magazine, February 2005, page 104

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