Vermicelli alla Vongole

The clams that my friend got from me were fantastic ! There were not much sand even after soaking them for almost 24 hours. To make sure all the clams are alive, I took each clam near my nose to smell it & discard any that has gone bad, in the end out of 1.3kg of clams, I only threw 4 away ! We had a marvelous lunch yesterday, this is the first time my girls have clams in their pasta, I've always avoided seafood in their meals until lately cos JF has quite bad eczema. CJ even wanted to keep the shells because they looked so pretty, I said NO !!!!

The recipe :
serves 4

1 kg Clams
125 ml Olive oil
40g Butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
6 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
125 ml White wine
1 red chilli, finely chopped

1/2 cup Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Cooked vermicelli for 4 servings

Heat the oil & 1 tablespoon(15g) of the butter in a large saucepan over mediun heat. add the onion & half of thye garlic & cook for 10mins, or until lightly golden, ensure the garlic doesn't start to burn. Add the wine & cook for 2 mins, add the clams, chilli, & the remaining garlic & butter & cook, covered, for 8 mins, shaking the pan regularly until the clams pop open.
Stir in the parsley & season, add pasta & toss well.

* In order not to let the vermicelli get too soggy, I removed them & portion accordingly on plates, cook the clams longer until the juices had reduced, the flavour is even more intensified !