Spaghetti Alle Vongole

Spaghetti Alle Vongole 

Spaghetti Alle Vongole - simple to prepare and good to eat, particularly with some warm home-made garlic bread to mop up the remaining gravy from the plate. 

For me, it was the perfect choice for a simple, fuss-free catch-up session with 3 old buddies in the comforts of my home whilst the hubby was away on business in the States. Nowadays, I usually meet up with these 3 in a larger group setting at fancy restaurants or popular eateries at regular, monthly intervals. 

So this was a nice, quiet change as well as a throwback to the past when we used to commune and cook together at each other's homes on some weekends. Those were the days when home cooked meals were scarce as we spend weekdays and nights huddled at the office and even later nights gallivanting round town after work hours looking for some fun, food and drinks.     

I had all my ingredients prepared before hand and stored in the refrigerator awaiting the arrival of my friends. 

When my friends arrived, it took all of 10 minutes to toss up the Spaghetti Alle Vongole (including the 5 minutes cooking time for the spaghetti per package instructions) while my very helpful buds, SC and PC  took on the task of buttering the garlic bread before popping them into the oven for 5 minutes.  

Many hands make light work !

Ingredients : (Serves 3-4)

350 g spaghetti ( I used Barilla's No.3 cooked for 5 minutes till al-dente in boiling water , salt and some oil according to package instructions)

1.5 kg of lokam clams - shell included

3 large tomatoes, diced

1 bulb of garlic, roughly minced

100 g of cilantro leaves

3-4 dried chillis, chopped up or minced (whilst kept dry) into chilli flakes

1 cupful or 200 -250 ml of dry white wine  

3 tbsp of olive oil or normal oil

Salt and freshly grounded black pepper to suit your taste

The Cooking Bit :

On 1 stove, put about a litre of water to the boil with a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of oil. Place your spaghetti in to cook when water begins to boil, timed according to the instructions accompanying the spaghetti.

About 3 minutes before the spaghetti is about to be done, pour 3 tbsp of oil into a large pan or wok (on a separate stove) on low heat. Saute the garlic and dried chillies for a minute. ( I prefer to remove some of the garlic and all of the chillis at this stage to set aside for later inclusion into the dish)

Turn up the heat or intensity of the fire and throw in the clams. Include the wine at this stage and cover with a lid while you bring the clams to a boil for about 2 minutes or so. Clams will start to open up on its own accord when cooked. 

When sauce starts to reduce a little on high heat ( in about 2 minutes or more),  throw in the diced tomatoes and let sauce simmer for about 30 seconds. Put in the roughly chopped cilantro leaves.

Turn down the flames, and introduce your spaghetti into the pan/wok at this stage. Season with sea salt and a generous sprinkling of black pepper. Be sure to taste as you gradually increase the salt content. (If you want a your spaghetti sauce to be a little thicker, add in about 2-3 tbsp of the water in which you used to boil your spaghetti)

Reintroduce the sauteed dry chilli flakes and garlic (which was set aside earlier) and give the mixture a good toss. Dish onto plates and serve immediately with some garlic bread. 

The Vongole Aftermath

For dessert, we finished off with individual strawberry pavlovas with chocolate sauce (also another easy to do dish - as the meringue and chocolate sauce may be prepared ahead of time while the cream may be whipped up on the spot with assembly of the fruits and sauce topping to follow immediately after).

Crazy as it seems  but the following is a picture of what we topped off all that food from dinner and dessert with - DURIANS! Thanks to one of my buds, CKS, who had come prepared with this most unusual offering. 

What can I say - we've got crazy tastebuds and crazy tummies to match!

Berry and Kiwi Pavlova

A light dessert that's pleasing to the eye and hell of easy to make! The secret to a good pavlova lies really in the meringue base. Get the base light and crisp on the outside and slightly soft and marshmellowy on the inside, and you're almost there!

The next steps are literally child's play. I whipped up some cream and got my 5 year old daughter and 7 year old nephew to pile the cream followed by the cleaned and sliced fruits on top. The dessert was then good to go.

The meringue base may be kept up to 2 days in an airtight container. Hence, you can make this in advance and pile on the topping only upon serving. Takes only 5-10 minutes. However, once the cream and fruits are spooned over the meringue base, the pavlova can keep in the fridge for only a couple of hours before it starts to soften.


Ingredients :


Meringue base
5 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp of white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp cornflour


Topping
1 cup cream for whipping
5-6 large strawberries, sliced
80 g blueberries
1 kiwi fruit, sliced




Methodology

1. Beat egg whites until soft peaks are formed.

For best results, the egg whites have to be beaten at room temperature. Make sure that the beater and mixing bowl is absolutely grease-free. Otherwise, the beaten egg whites won't rise.

2. When soft white peaks begin to appear, gradually add in the sugar while continuing with the whipping.

3. When egg whites are stiff, glossy and white, sprinkle some cornflour and the white vinegar over the mixture and continue to whip the mixture for another few seconds.

4. Draw a circle with a diameter of  8-9 inches (depending on how wide or high you want your meringue to be) on some greased baking sheet. Spoon your whipped egg white right into the middle of the circle.

5. Using the back of a spoon, gently spread the whipped whites out to the edges of your drawn circle.  Try to shape a hollow a slight indent in the middle to hold the whipped cream.

Place in pre-heated oven at 130 degrees celsius for about 50 minutes.

6. Meringue is done when it's a pale golden in colour and lightly crisp on the outside. Leave the meringue to cool in the oven (with the oven door slightly ajar) for a further hour or until meringue is completely cool.   (You may make the meringue ahead of time)

7. Upon serving, whip up some cream. Spread the whipped cream over the cooled meringue.  (I like my cream without sugar as the meringue itself is pretty sweet.)

*See note below for tips in whipping cream successfully*

8. Pile the cleaned, sliced and chilled fruits on the whipped cream to decorate and flavour your meringue dessert.

9. Lo and behold, the berry and kiwi pavlova is ready to be served.

*Note on whipping up your cream*

For best results, cream should be whipped straight out of the refrigerator. It would help to chill the mixing bowl and whipping utensils right before whipping your cream to ensure the cream remains cool during whipping.  Otherwise, the cream may fail to rise and stiffen. I've learnt the hard way :)