Clam pasta
Azure seas, glimmering white heat, an outdoor trattoria, clam pasta or ‘spaghetti alle vongole’ is summer on a plate. Enjoy with a glass of chilled white wine, and make a whole afternoon of it.
Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh clams
- A handful of dried spaghetti
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
- 2 red chillis, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- 25g parsley, finely chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Clean the clams by soaking them in salted water for 30 minutes.
- Step 2 Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water and cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. When ready, reserve a cup of the pasta water. Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside until ready to use.
- Step 3 Put a large pan (with a lid) over medium heat. Add the clams and white wine and steam gently until the clams have opened up and released their juices (about 5 minutes). Strain the clams, reserving the liquid.
- Step 4 In the same pan heat the rapeseed oil and fry off the garlic and chilli for about a minute. Then add back the clams and stir to combine.
- Step 5 Add half the parsley, the reserved cooking liquid, lemon juice and lemon zest and reduce until halved (or until it has a saucy consistency).
- Step 6 Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix thoroughly to combine. (You can loosen with some reserved pasta water if needed.) Garnish with remaining parsley and season. Serve immediately.
“There was no meaning in life, and man by living served no end. It was immaterial whether he was born or not born, whether he lived or ceased to live. Life was insignificant and death without consequence. Philip exulted, as he had exulted in his boyhood when the weight of a belief in God was lifted from his shoulders: it seemed to him that the last burden of responsibility was taken from him; and for the first time he was utterly free. His insignificance was turned to power, and he felt himself suddenly equal with the cruel fate which had seemed to persecute him; for, if life was meaningless, the world was robbed of its cruelty. What he did or left undone did not matter. Failure was unimportant and success amounted to nothing. He was the most inconsiderate creature in that swarming mass of mankind which for a brief space occupied the surface of the earth; and he was almighty because he had wrenched from chaos the secret of its nothingness. Thoughts came tumbling over one another in Philip’s eager fancy, and he took long breaths of joyous satisfaction. He felt inclined to leap and sing. He had not been so happy for months.
‘Oh, life,’ he cried in his heart, ‘Oh life, where is thy sting?”
William Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage
I first read this passage many years ago, and it frightened me. ‘What do you mean ‘life is insignificant’?, I thought. But these words have kept coming to me over the last few months. The current crisis has challenged me to evaluate my actions in light of my values. It’s been liberating to realise that no one cares. No cares whether you live your dreams or not, or whether you find satisfaction in your life. No one is there to live your life for you. You need to do that. When your actions are aligned to your values and purpose, you stop seeking approval from the people and things of this world. You have a different north star. So be emboldened by the crisis and dare to live.
