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Spaghetti with Clams

A pasta dish of spaghetti, live clams, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, parsley, and pepper, cooked together in a pan.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Spaghetti with Clams

serves 6
Time7–8 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the pasta

  1. Boil the water in a large pot with a tablespoon of salt.

  2. Add the spaghetti once the water starts boiling.

  3. Cook until the pasta is al dente (7–8 minutes).

Make the sauce

  1. Pour olive oil into a large, wide pan so that it barely covers the bottom.

  2. Heat the oil.

  3. Add the garlic and peperoncino.

  4. Sauté until golden brown (about a minute).

  5. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

  6. Add the live clams and diced tomatoes.

  7. Put the lid on the pan and cook for about eight minutes.

  8. Shake the pan every minute or so to help the clams open.

  9. Throw out those that don't.

Combine and serve

  1. Drain the spaghetti.

  2. Put it in the pan with the live clams and tomatoes.

  3. Reduce the heat to low.

  4. Add the canned clams and clam broth to the pan.

  5. Season with salt (and pepper, if the peperoncino is not used) to taste.

  6. Toss until the pasta is well coated with tomatoes and oil.

  7. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if you like.

  8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

  9. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

429Calories
52 gProtein
16 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Clam100g cooked148
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Shrimp100g cooked99
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Live clams
Release their juices and briny flavor into the sauce as they open.
Garlic
Provides aroma and savory flavor when gently sautéed in the oil.
Plum tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that combine with the oil to coat the pasta.
Spaghetti
Forms the base of the dish, absorbing the sauce and clam juices.
Olive oil
Carries the garlic and peperoncino flavor and helps coat the pasta.

The step that matters

Be careful not to burn the garlic. Garlic turns bitter when it browns too far, and that bitterness carries through the whole sauce. Sautéing it gently until golden keeps its flavor sweet and mild.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, clam, tomato, parsley, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, clam, tomato, parsley, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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