Back to the fish markets I went, ready for the assault of scales and water and smells. My friend Carmela had said she bought some beautiful clams from the market and made a pasta with them. Once my Dear Husband got wind of this it was what he wanted for dinner. I had never bought clams, let alone cooked them, so thank you to Carmela who talked me through the steps. The clams in Bahrain cost less per kilo than pasta, so this may not be a recipe easy for my friends back home to make but maybe change the clams for mussels which are more readily available and cheaper in Perth.

This dish has very few steps and is made with very simple ingredients. It is easy to put together and everyone at dinner loved it. Thank you Carmela for sharing this recipe from your home. You can follow her recipes on http://www.memoriediunacuocaperbene.com

I hope you loving easy food

CARMELA’S CLAMS

2kg clams

450gr pasta, normally I suggest you use whatever you have but for this I do think spaghetti or long pasta is the way to go, not too thick though

2 cloves garlic, bruised with the back of a knife

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

1 cup white wine 

Handful chopped parsley
Get a pot of boiling water to a rapid boil and cook your pasta. You can begin the next step once the pasta is cooked or do the next step and monitor your pasta

Get a saucepan large enough to fit all you clams. Place enough olive oil in the saucepan to cover the base of it, then add the garlic cloves. Heat the oil until the garlic cloves sizzle. Make sure not to burn the garlic

Once the garlic cloves are sizzling add you cup of white wine

Once the wine is simmering put all your clams in the saucepan and put a lid on top. Like mussels the clams are ready when they have opened

Toss the cooked pasta through with the clams and then sprinkle with the fresh chopped parsley. You may notice that I haven’t added salt. The clams when they open will released juices that are quite salty. Have salt at the ready but we didn’t feel the need to add any

Serve immediately