Asari no sakamushi (steamed Venus clams)

For ➋
15 cl sake*
1 tbs ginger, julienned
600 g small clams (f.i. Venus clams), de-gritted**
1 dried red chili pepper
freshly ground black pepper
1 scallion, chopped

In a large frying pan, add the sake and ginger and bring it to a boil.
Add the clams and a red chili pepper. Place the lid and steam on high heat for a few minutes until all the clams open.
Remove the lid and add freshly ground black pepper and green onion. Shake the pan to make sure the clams are not over-lapping each other.
Serve with the soup and eat while warm.***

*Or for a non-alcoholic soup, use a dashi stock, with some mirin, lemon peel, garlic, (Chinese) chives. Replace sake with very dry sherry.
**Discard open clams. Clean the rest in clear cold water for at least 3 times.
*** For a main course, serve with stir-fried bean sprouts, enoki and nashi pear with a sesame sauce with dashi, sake and shichimi togarashi. A bowl of pimped rice.

Spaghetti alle vongole in bianco (spaghetti with clams)

For ➍
450 g spaghetti (or linguine)
1 kg fresh vongole (carpet shells)*
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbs olive oil
½ dried red pepper, crushed (or ½ ts cayenne)
salt & pepper
bunch of parsley
2 peeled & seeded (canned) plum tomatoes**
(white wine or white vermouth)

Scrub the fresh clams well. Let them sit in salted water for several hours, so they can purge themselves of sand. Boil them in just a little bit of water***, or steam them. When they open, drain them and stir them, with shells, into the sauce.

Start cooking the spaghetti in a separate pot.

Make the sauce by gently sautéing the chopped garlic and the chilli pepper in the oil in a large pot, adding the parsley when the mixture starts to brown. Don't let it burn. (Add the tomatoes)**.

Add 2 tbs of the clams' cooking (or canned) juice to the mixture. Add clams to the mixture and cook for 1 m.

Drain the spaghetti, and stir it into the sauce.

Serve with a glass of slightly chilled white wine.

*Use defrosted frozen clams instead, or 200 g bottled or canned clam meat. You can also use mussels.
**Optional: add tomatoes to have a richer sauce (but it will hide the clams' taste) (and it will be no longer a white sauce).
***Use a small glass of white wine or white vermouth instead.
****Use half the quantities for a starter.

A quicker recipe for spaghetti con vongele, with cooked vongele. Try the similar Spanish version.
Read more spaghetti & linguine recipes: a quick spaghetti, spaghetti with scallops & tomatoes, scallops & rucola spaghetti, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti with vegetables, shrimps fra diavolo, raw tomato spaghetti, spaghetti with oil & garlic, spaghetti alla puttanesca, Palermo spaghetti with tomatoes & mint, American-Italian spaghetti with meatballs, vermicelli with parsley sauce, shrimps & Brie linguine, butter & tomato pasta sauce, lemon pasta with sea spinach.

Pasta con almejas y pimientos rojos (pasta with clams & peppers)

For ➍
300 g dried spaghetti or linguine
2 cloves garlic
1 medium white or yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
8 cl virgin olive oil
6-8 cl dry white wine
500 g littleneck clams

Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente.

Rinse the clams until cold running water and remove any debris on outside.

Peel and finely chop onion and garlic. Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper and chop into small squares, 0.5 cm across. Pour a few tbs olive oil into large frying pan and sauté onion, garlic and pepper until onion is translucent. Add white wine and clams, and simmer on low, stirring often.

Add cooked and drained spaghetti to the pan with the sauce and toss to coat the pasta.

Serve immediately.

Try the similar Italian spaghetti con vongele or the quick variant.

Spaghetti con vongole (spaghetti with small clams)

For ➋
100 g spaghetti
400 g cooked vongole meat (small clams)
4 tbs olive oil
1 chopped garlic clove
5 stalks of dried chilies
2 ts coarse black pepper
fresh coriander leaves
1 small glass of white wine*

Bring water to the boil. Drop in the spaghetti. Cook al dente.

In a small pan heat the olive oil. Stir in the garlic, chilies and pepper. Do not brown the garlic. Mix in the vongole with some of the cooking juice.

Add a small glass of white wine*.

Mix the spaghetti and vongole.  Shred the coriander leaves for decoration.

*Use half a glass of white vermouth instead.
**Use half quantities for a starter.

Another recipe for spaghetti alle vongole in bianco. Try the similar Spanish version.
Read more spaghetti & linguine recipes: a quick spaghetti, spaghetti with scallops & tomatoes, scallops & rucola spaghetti, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti with vegetables, shrimps fra diavolo, raw tomato spaghetti, spaghetti with oil & garlic, spaghetti alla puttanesca, Palermo spaghetti with tomatoes & mint, American-Italian spaghetti with meatballs, vermicelli with parsley sauce, shrimps & Brie linguine, butter & tomato pasta sauce, lemon pasta with sea spinach.