Every. Friday. Night.
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There are two things I love about Friday nights.
One is the Italian tradition of fasting on Fridays (a Roman Catholic thing), which means you still get to eat—of course!—but meat is off the table.
In our family, this means that Friday night is clam night. That’s the real reason I love Fridays. If we are all together, we’re eating spaghetti and clams. (I don’t love linguine, but that’s another story.) If my parents are solo at home, they’re eating spaghetti and clams. If it’s Christmas Eve, spaghetti and clams is the second course, right after seafood salad and before baccalà three ways.
The sauce always has olive oil, garlic, and littleneck clams. Sometimes there are cherry tomatoes, sometimes the tomatoes are diced. My kids don’t love parsley, so over time a little bowl of it, roughly chopped, is served on the side for each to add to their own serving. If we can get Manila clams, we use those. Occasionally we do a version with rock shrimp instead of clams. My dad loves it with 50/50 clams and mussels.
Sometimes we add pancetta; sometimes we don’t. My version has Swiss chard stems and leaves, but we’ve also used escarole and arugula.
When I wrote That Sounds So Good, Cosmo (who was 11 at the time) contributed an essay called, simply, “Clams.” His description of gathering, prepping, cooking, and eating together still slays me. Here’s how he captured the moment when the big bowl of noodles (2 pounds plus if everyone is there!) lands on the table:
And finally, it’s time to eat! After all that work, it’s done—so what are you eating? Clams, dripping with juice; pasta, warm and al dente between your teeth; and the occasional piece of bacon—basically, all you could ask for in a pasta dinner. And before you know it, you’re reaching back into the hot steaming bowl for seconds. This has been a family tradition for twenty-plus years, and I hope it doesn’t end anytime soon.
The Lalli Family’s Spaghetti and Clams is never the same, but it’s always good.
I’d love to hear about your take on this classic, or another dish that defines togetherness for you and yours.
xoCarla