Spaghettone with cream of asparagus and clams 

Ingredients

* 320 g pasta, spaghettone shape no. 12 Sgambaro Yellow Label

* 400 g clams

* 400 g asparagus

* 1 garlic clove

* salt

* 1 untreated lemon

* to taste Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation 

To prepare the pasta with cream of asparagus and clams, the first thing to do is to purge the clams with plenty of cold water with a teaspoon of salt in a bowl, leaving them to stand for at least 30 minutes.
Place the clams in a pan with one garlic clove, after removing the germ, one fresh chili and three spoonfuls of water, cover and cook, remove the clams as they open.
Shell half of them, leave the others in the shell to garnish the plate. Filter the cooking liquid and set aside.

Clean the asparagus by removing the woody part of the stalk, wash under running water and carefully pat dry. Remove the tips and set them aside, then cut the stalks into coarser rounds. Put about 250 ml of water in a saucepan and put it on the hob, add a peeled garlic clove and a little salt. When the water starts boiling, add the asparagus (just the stalks) and cook for about 10 minutes, add the tips when half done.

Transfer the asparagus stalks into the cup of an immersion blender with 2 spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil, a little coarse salt and a little cooking water of the clams, blend into a smooth cream.

Bring plenty of water to a boil, with just a little salt as the sauce is already quite tasty, and cook the pasta, spaghettone shape no. 12 Sgambaro Yellow Label.

Heat the asparagus cream in a large pan.

Drain the pasta “al dente” and transfer to the pan with the cream, cream over high heat by adding a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water and the clams, stirring to allow all flavours to blend together.

Serve the pasta with the asparagus and clam cream, garnish with the reserved asparagus tips and some grated lemon rind.