Which Italian pasta dish is made with spaghetti, clams, garlic, olive oil, parsley, and white wine?

Which Italian pasta dish is made with spaghetti, clams, garlic, olive oil, parsley and white wine? Spaghetti alle vongole is the answer.

Spaghetti alle vongole, literally “spaghetti with clams,” is an Italian seafood pasta from the country’s coastal regions, especially southern Italy. Its classic ingredients are spaghetti, fresh clams, garlic, parsley and extra-virgin olive oil; white wine is often added during cooking. The clams provide much of the dish’s distinctive briny flavor.

Italian cooks commonly prepare it in bianco, without tomatoes, using oil, garlic, parsley and sometimes white wine. A rosso version adds tomatoes and fresh basil and is particularly common in parts of southern Italy. Live clams open in the hot oil, releasing cooking liquid that becomes the sauce’s natural seasoning.

The dish is sometimes confused with other spaghetti preparations because recipes vary by region. Cream is not traditional in Italy, despite appearing in some Italian-American versions. Cheese is also generally avoided: many Italian cooks consider it too strong for the delicate flavor of clams and good olive oil. Common clam choices include palourdes and the small Mediterranean wedge shell, Donax trunculus.