I know this is not a traditional recipe for pasta vongole but it is what I made for Tandy Tuesday. I love the richness of tomatoes with clams. Unfortunately, I could not get fresh clams so I used tinned ones – they are not nearly as nice, and you do not get the lovely shells to go with the dish, but it satisfied a craving.
Pasta Vongole
Makes enough for: 2 people
Ingredients
- 150 g linguine, cooked as per package instructions
- 15 mls olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
- 1 chilli, deseeded and sliced
- 125 g mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tin cherry tomatoes
- 1 tin clams, drained
- 250 mls vegetable stock
Method
- while you are cooking your pasta heat the olive oil in a large frying pan
- add the onion and sauté until soft
- add the garlic and the chilli
- add the mushrooms and cook until soft
- add the tin of tomatoes, the clams and the vegetable stock
- cook on a low heat and when the pasta is cooked, toss through the sauce
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
The ingredients used for my pasta vongole
- olive oil: I always use extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. The best I can afford as it is worth it for the taste
- onions: I keep two brown onions in my allium bowl at all times. Make sure you buy firm onions and rather buy more often than have them go soft.
- garlic: always buy firm garlic cloves and keep them in the paper until needed. Don’t worry if they sprout, but if it bothers you, plant them to grow your own.
- chilli: we buy Calabrian chillies when we go to Italy. These are very hot and so I always remove the pith and seeds.
- mushrooms: we always have mushrooms in our fridge. Either whole big brown ones for use on the BBQ or sliced ones ready for cooking.
- tinned cherry tomatoes: this is the one ingredient I buy locally that comes from Italy. Sadly the tinned tomatoes canned here just don’t match up in terms of flavour.
- tinned clams: at the time of making this recipe, these were the only clams I could get. We now have an excellent fishmonger close to us who keeps frozen clams.
- vegetable stock: I make my own but feel free to use ready made. Just ensure it is a good quality stock with as little sodium as possible.
Pasta is always such a comfort food and your Tandy Tuesday vongole looks yummy even with the tinned clams.
🙂 Mandy
Thanks Mandy – it was a lovely dish 🙂
Pasta and fish are a great combination! I use to have vongole with spaghetti, that is spaghetti alle vongole, but I like this version, especially mushrooms. Did you know that when you mix seafood with mushrooms in Italy we use to say it’s a “mare e monti” (sea and mountains) dish? 😛
grazie! I have learnt something new today. I should be able to remember that for our next visit to Italy 🙂
Are you planning a visit? It would be lovely to meet! Let me know! 🙂
We are always planning! I am hoping to come to Italy again in 2013. We were there last year for the second time and I love the country! Where are you based?
I really hope to meet you if you happen to be back again. I live in Prato, near Florence (20 minutes by car), so if you choose to visit Tuscany we can have a chat and a cup of coffee! 🙂
We spent part of our honeymoon in Florence, and went back there last year for a day. If we ever go back to Tuscany I will let you know 🙂
I also love this dish!
one of my all time favourites 🙂