Time: 30 minuti
Difficulty: Facile

An ideal dish for summer evenings, but you can propose all year round!
matching clams and pesto will surprise you.

Features:
The clam is a bivalve mollusc that belongs to the Veneridae family. Composed of two shells that coincide with each other with an ovoid or triangular shape and a coloring that can vary from white, to gray to brown.
The Italian autochthonous clam (Tapese decussatus) has almost completely disappeared from Italian tables, supplanted by the so-called Filipino clam, more resistant to water variations and able to develop in a time less than the true Italian
Clams contain a lot of proteins and minerals including potassium and calcium, excellent for maintaining blood pressure and water balance in the norm.
Historical background:
The "spaghetti with clams" are a typical dish of Campania cuisine but widespread in all Italian coasts. There are several versions, mainly white and red.
The author Jeanne Carola Francesconi mentions in her book "La Cucina Napoletana" that the first pasta format from which the others originated, were tagliatelle.
Notes:
Hepatitis sufferers should avoid consuming them raw.
Moreover, we must not forget that being filter muscles they can be vehicles of microorganisms pathogenic to humans such as those that can cause salmonellosis, typhus, hepatitis A and cholera. For this reason it is advisable to buy them only when you know the origin and are therefore certified and guaranteed.
 

Ingredients for 4 people
400 g gluten-free spaghetti
For seasoning
500 g real clams
5 cherry tomatoes
100 g olives of Gaeta
2 cloves of garlic
40 g white wine
For the pesto of basil
180 g fresh basil
80 g extra virgin olive oil
10 g pine nuts
4 g garlic
1 g salt to taste
20 g grated parmesan cheese

Proceeding 
Fill a large bowl with cold water and a pinch of salt, pour the clams and drain for an hour.

Take the clams and drain them, rinse several times and check that they do not contain sand.
Heat a pot with oil and a clove of garlic, then pour the tomatoes cut into 4 and the olives, add the clams and cook the shellfish covering the pot with a lid for about 5 minutes, Pour in some wine and cook for another 8 minutes.
Drain the clams from the liquid, let them cool for a few minutes and shell them taking a part of the molluscs and leaving the whole half.
To prepare the basil pesto, pour all the ingredients into a large glass and blend with an immersion mixer, then set aside.
Boil a pot with water, season with salt, boil, put to cook pasta, stir occasionally with a fork, until cooked.
Drain and pour into the pan, mix with the shellfish sauce.
Take a deep dish and add two tablespoons of pesto, create a nest with spaghetti and lay it on top, complete with two tablespoons of clams on each portion of pasta.