Linguini alle Vongole

A super simple yet delicious summery pasta dish. The only tricky bit (depending on where you live, of course) is finding really fresh tasty cockles, and not buying them last minute - because they need to soak!

Ingredients

roughly 1 kg Cockles

500gr Linguini

1,5 bulbs of Garlic

roughly 3/4 cup of White Wine

2 big handfulls of fresh Parsley

Chili Flakes

freshly ground Black Pepper

Olive oil

Wash the cockles and then submerge in cold saltwater so that they clear out the grit they carry. If you buy them in the morning they should be ready to use by evening, but you can soak them overnight if you want.

Boil the linguini according to the package.

Drain the cockles and rinse them one more time. Heat up some olive oil in a big flat frying pan. Fry the cockles on medium-high heat until most of them have opened up. Discard any that are still closed or broken.

Mince the 1,5 bulb of garlic and toss it over the cockles. Pour the wine over it and lower the fire to a simmer for another minute. Roughly chop the parsley and sprinkle it over the cockles.

Drain the pasta and add it to the frying pan. Add chili flakes and black pepper to taste. Mix it well so the juices of the cockles have a chance to get all over the pasta. Serve immediately.