18 Feb Spaghetti alla Vongole for Valentine’s
Unlike some people who love to go out, I love to stay home.
I poached these lines from Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking. I tried reading this book years ago, but for some reason never got into it. Now, on re-reading, it seems to pierce my rain-sodden soul. What makes Colwin’s writing so wonderful is that it is extremely – unforgivable word alert – cosy, and low key in the loveliest way. She celebrates the simple, the convivial, the comfort and cosiness of home cooking. She captures and conveys a warmth not many other food writers manage to. You can feel this warmth just as you can feel the warmth of her oven, as she roasts her perfect chicken or bakes her perfect bread. It’s one of the cosiest food books I have ever read. So cosy, it now has a permanent place on my tiny kitchen shelf which is mostly monopolised by toys (next door to Nigella’s How to Eat).
I was thinking about this line because Lorenzo asked me what we should do for Valentine’s Day. in my great old age, I have come to realise I don’t really like going out for dinner. Lunch I like. Breakfast or coffee too. But what I really like doing is staying in. We are neither of us very enthusiastic about Valentine’s. Definitely not interested enough to go down the hearts, chocolates and romantic date route, also because we are exhausted new(ish) parents. However, we feel it’s a way of doing something together that doesn’t just revolve around the daily drudge of duty and domesticity.
How better to avoid domesticity than staying in? Ahem. Let me explain. Yes we will still have to do the dishes, but I do not believe in going out on Valentine’s Day. The restaurants will be full of young couples playing footsie and the food will be average and overpriced, because it almost always is here unless you’re eating pizza. (And pizza is for Saturdays with beer and is perfect but not for Valentine’s.) Also, I will have to brush my hair and look smart. Which I have managed to avoid doing since circa 2009, and would like to keep that way. I hate dressing up unless it’s a very specific circumstance usually organised by me, and in which case I will probably want to wear something themed. Most of all I hate feeling I have to look smart. I hate being smart. I’m extraordinarily bad at it, which is partly why I hate it. In my ideal world, I want to look interesting. But this mostly looks ridiculous in a mediocre restaurant surrounded by oversexed teenagers in Adidas.
So, I suggested we stay in. I may wear sequins. I will probably wear a sweatshirt. But I know we will be eating spaghetti alla vongole.
I am not sure there is any more romantic meal to me than spaghetti with some kind of seafood. Except for prawns, which will cause Lorenzo to go into Anaphylactic shock (not so romantic, though definitely dramatic). I couldn’t say if seafood is an ‘official’ aphrodisiac but I’m not really interested in that, as the eating of spaghetti with clams is such a sensually heady experience you really need nothing afterwards, though I leave that to your discretion. What could be more gratifying to the senses than sucking up slick strands of salty, garlic-and-white-wine-scented spaghetti, and teasing out with the tip of your tongue tiny, sweet molluscs from their grey-sky shells? Of course, there’s the spaghetti bit which makes everyone think of Lady and the Tramp’s infamous love scene. But Disney aside, spaghetti eating is a sort of bizarre and beguiling mixture or elegance, fun, embarrassment, abandon and mess, depending on how you do it. Which is a perfect reflection of love. Perhaps.
Anyway, I clearly don’t know a lot about romance, but I do know that pasta and clams makes everyone happy. And eating it in front of the fire, with a film to follow, in sequins or slippers as you feel fit, sounds to me sort of like the perfect evening. It also requires no pre-prep. Half an hour and it is done.
If you are lucky enough to find them, Lupini are my favourite clams of all. They are small, smooth and beautifully mottled, and taste the sweetest. Their beauty feels fitting for a romantic meal, too. I’d serve a radicchio and orange salad to follow/before depending on preference and maybe something based around blood orange or rhubarb to finish: I’m not against a touch of pink in edible form. Or just a simple, unapologetically rich chocolate cake (recipe to come).
Here is the spaghetti & clams recipe from Bitter Honey. I also recommended linguine, but I’ve changed my mind. I think spaghetti is the best. This time I used spaghettoni, an even chunkier spaghetti. I think I like that best of all.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Spaghetti/Linguine with Clams
Serves 2 as a main course
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, bashed
Small pinch dried chilli
1 glass dry white wine
600-800g clams (depending on how many clams you like to eat – I like lots!)
200g spaghetti/linguine
Handful of finely chopped parsley
Pick over the clams and check there are none that are open or that have broken shells (if there are, discard these). Rinse them well of any grit/sand and set aside.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the spaghetti/linguine.
Heat the oil with the garlic clove over a low flame until the garlic begins to just brown. Remove the garlic clove & turn up the heat. Throw in the clams, the chilli and the glass of wine and cover the pan with a lid.
Cook over a high heat for a few minutes, then remove the lid and allow the liquid to bubble away and reduce a little. All the clams should be open, any that aren’t and do not open should be discarded.
When al dente, drain the spaghetti/linguine and then toss it through the pan with the clams, making sure all the strands are coated with juice. Add the chopped parsley and toss the pan well.
Serve on warmed plates.
