The Freshest Pasta dish ever!

Spaghetti al Vongole...Now, there is a dish I like!
I washed up at a pizzeria in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and I really liked it making this dish for my lunch! Al dente Spaghetti, Clams, Tomato sauce…

But guess what! I bet none of you has ever had Spaghetti al Vongole cooked from scratch on the beach!

When I was 6 or 7 we spent all our summers at my aunties or uncles because we lived about 60 km from the Med.
A dozen kids sleeping in the same room was not unusual. In fact it was great especially when Gran lay in the middle telling fables.
Most days, she took us kids to the beach in the morning till late afternoon.
A few chips and a slice of bread was our lunch. Food was not in our dictionary when we were young. This amazing feast was washed down with a swig of cheap cola. Heaven!

But every Sunday the adults joined the party!
The larder was transferred to the car boot and off we went.
On our arrival at the beach, we, kids virtually dived into the sea from the moving cars, while the adults set up camp in a remote corner and surrounded it with windbreaks not that it was ever windy in August. Tattered parasols turned the camp into a tented Saharan village. All we needed was a few camels and goats and we would have made a caravan!

A grand competition then took place. Buckets at the ready each one of us began collecting clams from the shallows.
The women, in the kitchen part of the “camp” lit a charcoal fire in a terracotta burner and got on with the sauce.

This is the recipe:
Heat 3 tbsp. of olive oil
Fry a finely diced onion until soft.
Add 2 finely diced cloves of garlic and fry until soft.
Add one tin of chopped and mashed tomatoes and 1tbsp. of tomato puree.
Add a glassful of water. Nowadays I add a glassful of white wine…Shhhhh!
Bring to the boil and then simmer for about half an hour.
In the meantime boil the spaghetti until al dente. Drain and cool under running water.
The clams need to be washed a few times to get rid of the sand.
When ready to serve, heat the sauce up and add the clams.
Once they are open, add some chopped basil and parsley.
You can either re-heat the spaghetti up in boiling water or just add it to the sauce.
Serve hot with parmesan! Mmmmmmmm!

On the beach, once the Spaghetti al Vongole was ready, we were summoned to form a circle to wolf down this wonderful dish with thick slices of French bread to mop up the remaining sauce and our lips.

A cool drink and a slice of ice cold watermelon finished this wonderful meal. These were cold because, on our arrival at the beach, they were buried deep in the wet sand.

I would give up a gourmet meal at La Tour d’Argent to experience that once more!

Now, can anyone tell me if this isn't as near to heaven as life could really be...