Spaghetti alle vongole
{{Short description|Italian pasta dish}}
{{Italics title}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Spaghetti alle vongole
| image = Spaghetti vongole 2.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption =
| alternate_name = Spaghetti con le vongole
| country = Italy
| region = Campania
| creator =
| course = Primo (Italian pasta course)
| type =
| served =
| main_ingredient = Spaghetti, clams, parsley, extra virgin olive oil, garlic
| variations =
}}
File:Linguine alle Vongole.jpg
Spaghetti alle vongole ({{IPA|it|spaˈɡetti alle ˈvoŋɡole|lang}}; {{literally|spaghetti with clams}}) is a pasta dish consisting of spaghetti cooked with fresh clams, originating in the coastal regions of southern Italy, particularly the city of Naples, Campania. The preparation typically involves garlic, parsley, olive oil, and occasionally white wine. Palourde, or carpet-shell clams (Italian: {{lang|it|vongole veraci}}; {{plural form}}), are commonly used, along with the small Mediterranean wedge shell (Donax trunculus, also known as the Tellina or "bean clam"). There are numerous regional variations of the dish.
Types of clams
Palourde, or carpet-shell clams (Italian: {{lang|it|vongole veraci}}; {{plural form}}), are used, or the small, Mediterranean wedge shell (Donax trunculus, also known as the Tellina or "bean clam"). Both types are also called arselle in Liguria and Tuscany.Gillian Riley, The Oxford Companion to Italian Food (Oxford University Press, 2007), entries for "Palourde", p. 355, and "Wedge Shell", pp. 578–79.
In Italy
Italians prepare this dish two ways: in bianco, i.e., with oil, garlic, parsley, and sometimes a splash of white wine; and in rosso, like the former but with tomatoes and fresh basil, the addition of tomatoes being more frequent in the south. Traditionally, the bivalves are cooked quickly in hot olive oil to which plenty of garlic has been added. The live clams open during cooking, releasing a liquid that serves as the primary flavoring agent.{{cite web |url=http://www.italiantourism.com/vongole.html |title=Spaghetti alle vongole |website=ItalianTourism.com |archive-date=January 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071649/http://www.italiantourism.com/vongole.html |url-status=usurped }}
Outside Italy
Italian-American recipes sometimes use cream in this dish, but in its area of origin this would be considered most unorthodox. Gillian Riley considers cream alien to the spirit of Italian cooking, remarking that "the way cream dumbs down flavor and texture is not appropriate to the subtle flavor and consistency of pasta".See Gillian Riley's entry on "Cream" in The Oxford Companion to Italian Food, p. 147.
In the United States, cheese is sometimes added to the dish, although Italians state that it overpowers the simple flavors of the clams and of good quality olive oil.For a discussion about the Italian dislike of putting cheese on pasta dishes with seafood from an American point of view, see [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/magazine/30food-t.html?ex=1364443200&en=23c28225261631a7&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&_r=0 Robert Trachtenberg, "Just Grate", New York Times Magazine, March 30, 2008]. Trachtenberg terms the prohibition "a mantra".
See also
{{Commons category-inline|Spaghetti with clams}}
{{Cookbook-inline|Spaghetti with Clams}}
{{Portal|Italy|Food}}