Directions

• Clean and purge the clams by soaking them in heavily salted water (it should be salty enough to taste like sea water) for 30 minutes. The clams will naturally filter out any sand. If they are particularly sandy, repeat the process with a fresh batch of salted water. After this process, leave to soak in unsalted cold water for 10 minutes to rinse off any excess salt they have absorbed.
• Bring a pot of water to the boil, add a handful of coarse sea salt. Cook the spaghetti until very al dente – about 2 minutes under the recommended cooking instructions
• In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan with a lid. Gently sauté the garlic (and fresh chilli, if using, but not too much as you don’t want to overpower the delicate flavour of the clams) until soft but not coloured.
  
• Add the clams to the pan followed by the white wine. Turn up the heat and cover with a lid.
• Give the pan a shake every 30 seconds, the clams should be cooked after 2 minutes or so. Take the pan off the heat and discard any clams which haven’t opened, along with any empty shells. Also remove half of the clams from their shells and add them back to the pan. Discard the leftover shells.
• When ready, drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water. Toss the spaghetti through the white wine and clam sauce until well-coated, adding some of the reserved cooking water if needed.
• Stir through the fresh parsley and leave for a minute or two for the pasta to absorb the flavours. Serve with a crisp glass of white wine and some crusty bread on the side.