Spaghetti alle (Sam) Vongole

Spaghetti alle vongole is probably my favourite seaside pasta. It’s fresh, light, salty and tastes exactly like something you should be eating right next to a body of water! Even better if you can get your hands on clams that have been caught that very day. This is one of those dishes where the quality of the ingredients really does do most of the work for you, so I try not to mess around with it too much. The important thing here is the olive oil. We are going to gently infuse it first with garlic, chilli and lemon zest before the clams even go near the pan. That way all of those flavours are already working their way through the base of the sauce before the clams release all that lovely salty liquor.