Delicious spaghettie with cockles and zesty Espelette pepper.

Spaghetti Alle Vongole

• 2 pounds cockles, Manila clams, or littlenecks scrubbed
• grey coarse sea salt
• 12 oz of spaghetti
• 1 spring onion
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• freshly ground pepper
• AOC Oliviers & Co Espelette pepper
• Oliviers & Co Il Tempio Dell'Oro Olive Oil
• lemon juice
• 1 bunch of chives
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1 tbsp. of creme fraiche

Instructions:

Rinse then soak the cockles or clams in cold water with the coarse salt for at leaset 2 hours.

Cook the spaghettie 10 minutes in boiling salted water with a few drops of lemon juice so as not to stick.

Rinse the cockles or clams again and drain. Colour the chopped onion in a pan with a little olive oil.

Add the cockles or clams, the white wine, the thyme leaves, some pepper, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan until all the shells are open. Remove the shells, strain out the cooking juices.

If the cooking juice is not too salty, put it back in the pan with the cream, otherwise only use half, add the shells and the spaghetti, sprinkle over some Expelette pepper, add a drizzle of Il Tempio Dell'Oro olive oil and sprinkle with chopped chives. Serve immediately.