Tagliolini with clams: the sea in Tuscany

Vongole veraci vs common clams: the difference you can taste

Not all clams are equal. The distinction between vongole veraci (Ruditapes decussatus) and common clams (Ruditapes philippinarum or manila clam) is important and is distinctly felt on the palate - enough to justify the price difference that veraci have over the Philippine variety.

Vongole veraci are native to the Mediterranean and European Atlantic. They are smaller than manila clams, with a thicker shell and a more rounded shape. The flesh is firmer, less watery, with an intense marine flavour and a subtle sweetness not found in imported varieties. When they open during cooking, the liquid they release is precious - salty, fragrant with real sea, with a concentration of flavour that is the secret of the best clam sauces.

Common or Manila clams (introduced to Europe in the 1970s for aquaculture) are less expensive and easier to find. They are good - there is nothing wrong with them - but their flavour is more neutral, less intense, with less character. For a dish like tagliolini with clams, where the flavour of the shellfish is the absolute protagonist, the difference between veraci and manila is felt in every mouthful.

In Tuscany, vongole veraci come mainly from the Versilia coastline and the Orbetello area. Some Tuscan vongole veraci come from controlled farms - this is not a problem if the supply chain is good. The important thing is that they have not been frozen.

How to clean clams without going wrong

The clams arrive alive - and it is a sign of quality that should not be ignored. Before cooking them, they must purge themselves of any sand that may be inside the shell.

Purging requires at least two hours, better four: the clams are placed in a wide container with cold water and a generous tablespoon of sea salt. The salt water recreates the sea environment and induces the clams to open their valves slightly, expelling the sand. The container should be kept in the fridge or in a cool place.

After purging, rinse the clams under cold running water, rubbing the shells together. Discard those with broken shells or those that remain open after rinsing - they are already dead and should not be used.

Before putting the clams into the pan, you can do a test: take each clam and tap it lightly on a surface - those that sound hollow (sand inside) should be discarded.

The sauce: white or with tomato?

Tagliolini with clams are made in bianco (white) and rosso (with tomato) - and on which version is the most authentic one could argue at length without reaching a conclusion. Both have tradition, both make culinary sense.

In bianco is the version that best showcases the flavour of the clams. Nothing covers or mediates - just garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, parsley, chilli, white wine and the clam liquid. The result is a clear and fragrant sauce, with a marine saltiness that distributes across the pasta in an almost pure way. It is the quintessential summer version.

In rosso (with tomato) gives the sauce more body. Fresh cherry tomatoes (datterini or ciliegini) or a small amount of tinned tomatoes are used - you are not making a tomato sauce but adding the tomatoes as an element of acidity and colour. The result is rounder, more complex, with the sweetness of the tomato balancing the saltiness of the shellfish.

For tagliolini, with their thinness, the bianco version lends itself better - the lightness of the sauce pairs with the delicacy of the pasta. For a more robust pasta like pici or spaghetti, the rosso version works better.

Fresh tagliolini: how to make them or where to buy them

Tagliolini are the thinnest pasta in the Tuscan egg pasta tradition - cut to approximately 2 millimetres wide from a sheet rolled to about 1 millimetre thickness. The classic dough is 100 grams of 00 flour per large egg - optionally with an extra yolk for a richer and more golden pasta.

The sheet is rolled with a rolling pin or with a pasta machine - for tagliolini use the thinnest setting. After cutting the ribbons, leave them to dry slightly on a floured cloth for about ten minutes.

If not making by hand, look for fresh tagliolini from an artisan pasta maker - many Tuscan pasta laboratories produce them daily. Industrial fresh tagliolini (the bagged ones in supermarket fridges) often have a glutinous texture that is not ideal.

Cooking in boiling salted water is very quick - 1 or 2 minutes at most. For this reason the sauce must be ready at the moment the tagliolini go into the water.

The mantecatura: the moment that makes the difference

The mantecatura is the step that transforms a plate of pasta with a sauce into a real first course. It is that moment when the pasta and sauce fuse - the starch of the pasta dissolves in the fat of the oil, the clam liquid concentrates, the whole thing becomes a homogeneous cream that envelops every tagliolino.

It is done in the pan where the sauce was prepared: the tagliolini drained al dente (with some cooking water kept aside) are added to the sauce with the clams and tossed over high heat for thirty seconds. If the sauce dries out too much, add a small ladleful of cooking water. The high heat evaporates the excess water and creates that creaminess that is not achieved by mixing over cold.

Fresh chopped parsley enters only at the end, off the heat - prolonged heat oxidises its aromas and flattens them.

Tagliolini at Ristorante Alcide

At Ristorante Alcide the tagliolini with clams are one of the highlight dishes of the seafood menu. The clams arrive fresh from the Tyrrhenian together with the fish of the day, the pasta is hand-made every morning, the sauce is built to order - it does not come from a prepared base made in advance.

The result is a dish that brings to the table the true flavour of the Tyrrhenian Sea, inside an inland Tuscan restaurant that has chosen not to compromise on the quality of its fish. That choice - maintaining direct relationships with suppliers at the ports of Livorno and Viareggio, buying fresh every morning, not using frozen seafood for pasta dishes - is the reason why Alcide’s tagliolini with clams taste of the sea even forty kilometres from the coast.

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Want to taste it for real?

At Ristorante Alcide you will find it on the table - made the right way, with fresh ingredients and the care of the Ancillotti family since 1849.

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