Clam Soup
Marcella says, “Italy has enough soups for a lifetime.” This chapter has been wonderful, and I was happy to get the recipe for “Clam Soup”. Though I live out in the California desert, I was able to get fresh clams. They were not the beautiful little tiny ones I enjoy in coastal cities or Italy, but I had to make due with these rather large littleneck clams from Bristol Farms.
After cleaning the clams well, saute olive oil, shallots, garlic and parsley. Add some white wine and red chili pepper, and those clams go in the pot. The clams are removed as soon as they open, and you have a simple and oh so delicious dinner!
Now I am craving pasta with clams! Such simple ingredients, and such wonderful flavors. Buonissimo!
For years I have been as wistful as you when making clam soup, thinking of the small, sweet and spicy Italian vongole. Actually we have two main popular types of clams in Italy, the veraci, with two tiny horns, their taste briny, but mild – in Venice they are called caparozzoli – and the more common, cheaper, peppery, savory clam with one horn that in Venice is called bibarasse. My preference os for the latter, but I’ll take the former any time. I can now get a reasonable good smaller clam cultivated in Forida, called here a pasta clam.