Elizabeth Hewson’s vongole, fregola, tomaotes, guanciale
Embrace the onset of summer with this Italian-inspired easy, breezy vongole dish . If you close your eyes you could easily be at the seaside.
There is no better combination than the brininess of clams, the zestiness of lemon and the fire of chilli. Brought together by pasta and paired with an icy, refreshing cocktail, this is the very essence of an Italian summer’s evening. It’s my perfect meal.
I love feasting on tiny clams. While there’s no beating the simplicity and beauty of spaghetti vongole, there’s something magical about clams with fregola. Fregola is the tiny, crumb-like pasta from Sardinia that’s almost identical in appearance to pearl couscous, but cooked and served differently (couscous is steamed, whereas fregola is boiled and served in broth). The pasta swells up in the intensely flavoured broth, taking on all the heavenly aromas. If you close your eyes, you could almost be at the seaside. The shells, too, provide the perfect vessel to scoop up the tiny balls of pasta, rather than searching for them through a tangled web of pasta.
If you like this, try:
Elizabeth Hewson’s lemon and herb crusted trout
Lennox Hastie’s luxurious fish pie
The best six ways to cook salmon
Most bivalves work in this recipe – pipis, cockles, clams, mussels – but I love vongole for their perfect size. Something about them feels elegant, the glamest of clams. What’s so great about cooking this type of seafood is that they let you know when they’re ready. Their shells simply pop open; reassuring for those who are afraid of cooking things from the sea. To stop them overcooking, you can pluck the open ones out into a bowl to allow the stragglers more time to open. The one thing you do need to be cautious about when cooking shells is grit. There is nothing worse than a gritty clam, it will completely ruin the dish. These days most come pre-purged, but if you do find yourself unsure, I tend to side with caution and throw them in bowl of salted cold water for about an hour, giving them a swish around every so often, followed by a quick scrub and rinse under cold water.
In this recipe, I like to use seafood stock to amp up the seaside volume. Homemade versions are quick and simple to make, but a shop bought version or good quality chicken or veg stock also works well. Serving crusty bread alongside this dish is a must. The Italians call this scarpetta, which means “little shoe”, referring to the small piece of bread to mop up the sauce left on your plate.
This is easily adaptable to serve more for a feast. Feel free to leave out the guanciale if you prefer, although I do love the texture it brings to the dish.
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Vongole, fregola, tomatoes, guanciale
Ingredients
80g guanciale or pancetta, cut into lardons
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ bunch parsley, stalks finely chopped, leaves kept for garnish
250g (1 punnet) cherry tomatoes
½ teaspoon harissa paste
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup white wine
1 ½ cups good quality fish stock
½ cup fregola
500g vongole
1 lemon, zest and juice
Crusty bread, to serve
Method
- Place a deep-sided pot with a lid over a medium to low heat. Add guanciale and 1 tablespoon of oil to help get things going. Slowly render until starting to crisp, roughly 5 minutes. Add garlic, finely chopped parsley stalks (reserving leaves for garnishing), whole cherry tomatoes, harissa and salt. Cook for 2 minutes before throwing in your wine, allowing it to bubble away for about a minute.
- Add stock, let it all come together for 5 minutes. When it’s simmering away, add fregola. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid fregola sticking to the bottom of the pan. If you’re finding your fregola is drinking up the stock too quickly, throw in another ¼ cup. Add vongole, turn heat up slightly and put lid on. Cook for
2-3 minutes or until vongole have popped open. Some of the stragglers might need extra encouragement to pop open. So pluck out the open ones, place into a bowl to avoid overcooking, put lid back on and cook for a further minute or so. Then return open vongole to the pan. - Turn off heat. Zest over lemon, generously squeeze over lemon juice and garnish with roughly chopped parsley leaves. Finish with a splash of olive oil. Serve with crusty bread to mop up juices, Italian style. Serves 2