Drinks advice · Wine and food

Spaghetti alle vongole with Farina Soave Classico

Spaghetti with clams, garlic, parsley and a splash of white wine, nothing else. Soave Classico comes from the same region as this winery and has the salty tone that belongs with shellfish.

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Bottle of Farina Soave Classico, wine

From the shelf

The bottle

Farina Soave Classico comes from the Veneto in Italy and is made from garganega, trebbiano di Soave and pinot bianco. The wine is 12.5 percent ABV and the bottle holds 75 centilitres. On the nose green apple, pineapple and yellow plum, along with wild flowers and elderflower. The structure is tight with an almost briny edge.

Farina Soave Classico

The combination

Why this works together

Vongole bring seawater with them: the cooking liquid that runs out of the shells is salty and iodine-like, and that is the flavour the sauce turns on. A wine with that same briny edge reinforces that tone instead of drowning it out. The acidity of the garganega cuts the olive oil, and because no wood was involved, nothing remains standing between the shell and the glass. Red would go wrong here: tannin reacts with the proteins in shellfish to a metallic aftertaste.

At the table

The dish

  • Before 4 people
  • Ready in 30 minutes
  • Type main course

What you need

  • 1 kilo clams
  • 400 grams of spaghetti
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red chilli
  • 150 millilitres dry white wine
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 30 grams flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 lemon
  • freshly ground black pepper

How to make it

  1. Rinse the shellfish half an hour beforehand in plenty of cold water with a handful of salt, so they release their sand. Discard the ones that are open and do not close after a tap.
  2. Put a large pan of water on. Only salt the water lightly: the liquid from the shells will bring plenty of salt of its own later.
  3. Cut the garlic into thin slices and the red chilli into rings. Coarsely chop the parsley.
  4. Heat four tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pan over moderate heat and let the garlic and the pepper release their aroma in two minutes without taking colour. Brown garlic turns bitter.
  5. Put the shells in the pan, pour in the white wine and put the lid on. Shake the pan now and then. After three to four minutes the shells are open.
  6. Scoop the shellfish into a bowl with a slotted spoon and pour the cooking liquid back into the pan through a fine sieve; that catches the last of the sand.
  7. Cook the spaghetti two minutes less than the packaging says and scoop it with a splash of cooking water into the pan with the shellfish liquor. Let it absorb the sauce there over high heat for two minutes.
  8. Stir in the shellfish, the parsley and the last two tablespoons of olive oil, grind pepper over it and serve with lemon wedges.

In the glass

Serving

Serve the wine at 8 to 10 degrees in a white wine glass with a narrow bowl. Use the same wine you start the shellfish with, so that pan and glass match. Opening ahead or decanting is not necessary.

Everything about Farina Soave ClassicoBack to Drinks advice from ’t Bockje

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