Pasta with donax, whether made with spaghetti or linguine, reminds everyone of the childhood sea. When we sat on the shoreline and dug our hands into the sand to sift out as many donax as we could, and then we kept them in plastic bottles with seawater to bring them home. Good times, carefree, with delicious donax collected to pass the time, now bought at fish counters still evoke those happy sensations.
Pasta with donax or wedge shells is very easy to make, but also try fregola with clams and shrimp. Start the recipe by purging sand from the donax in water and salt, then sauté them in a pan to open them, and finally dress the spaghetti or linguine. I prefer linguine, but use the pasta you like best, and in my recipe, I don’t add tomatoes, I make them plain to fully enjoy their flavor.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs donax
- 12 oz linguine
- 2 cloves garlic
- a fresh chili pepper
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 bunch chopped parsley
- to taste extra virgin olive oil and salt
Steps
Buy a net of fresh donax at the fish market, they usually already weigh 1 kilogram. Wash them under running water and then soak them in a basin with cold water and two handfuls of salt. Let them purge the sand for at least 1 hour, if you have time even 2 hours.
Once the sand purging time has passed, drain the donax and rinse them under water.
In a large pan or pot, add a drizzle of oil and 1 clove of garlic. Transfer the donax into the pan over medium-high heat and cover it. Sauté them for a few minutes until they all open.
Using a fine-mesh strainer, drain the donax filtering the water produced during opening in the pan, to remove any other sand. Shell three-quarters of the donax and set aside the whole opened ones that you will use to garnish the dish. Discard any closed donax.
In a pasta pan, add olive oil, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 1 fresh chili pepper cut in two (to taste, but it goes well) and a small handful of fresh parsley that you have chopped.
When the garlic is golden, remove it and add the shelled donax. Sauté them for a few seconds, then pour in the white wine. Let it evaporate and then add the filtered water from the donax.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente in salted water and when it is halfway through cooking, drain it, setting aside a small glass of cooking water.
Add the pasta to the donax in the pan, add the shellfish with shells that you set aside, toss, add the remaining parsley, adjust the salt, and sauté the pasta until fully cooked. If needed, add a few tablespoons of cooking water to maintain creaminess.
Before serving, drizzle with raw extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately with a final sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley.
