Extra Virgin (14 page)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 pounds Manila clams

1 pound spaghetti

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, plus more for serving

½ cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Italian parsley, for serving

In an 8- to 12-quart pot, bring 6 quarts of salted water to a rolling boil.

Place the clams in a large skillet, cover, and heat over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Remove the lid and transfer any opened clams to a bowl to cool. Cover the skillet again and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove the lid and again transfer any opened clams to the bowl. If after 1 more minute of cooking, there are clams that haven’t opened, discard them and remove the skillet from the heat. Pour the broth released by the clams into a bowl and set aside.

Once the clams have cooled, remove the meat from three-fourths of the opened clams and chop finely. Discard the shells. If you can capture any leftover clam juice, add to the reserved broth. Set the clam meat and clams still in their shells aside.

Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and use a wooden fork to stir the pasta so it won’t stick together. Cook until al dente.

In the same skillet used to cook the clams, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant but not burnt. Add the wine and cook for 3 to 5 minutes more, until it’s reduced by about one-third.

Add the chopped clams and the clams still in their shells to the skillet, along with ½ cup of the reserved broth. Reduce the heat to medium-low, season with salt and pepper to taste, stir the clams into the sauce, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes to coat the clams.

Drain the spaghetti and add to the sauce. Raise the heat to high and toss the cooked pasta and sauce together until the spaghetti is well coated, about 1 minute.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkled with the parsley and a touch more red pepper flakes.

ON ENTERTAINING

D:
The first great hostess I knew was my grandmother. She was a single woman living in a house in Queens. Until I was five years old my mother and I lived with her. She loved to set a beautiful table when people came over, and she always wore an apron over a pretty dress. She’d take off her heels, put on comfortable shoes, and get started. We had very little money but she insisted on a formal setting. She’d go out to her yard and cut hydrangeas and roses and various greens for floral arrangements. I remember the dishware as very eclectic, the cloth napkins never matched, and tablecloths couldn’t be called new. But she had a sewing kit and when something wore out, she’d mend it herself, sewing a hole or adding lace trim to freshen it up.

My mother had a more relaxed approach. Formality wasn’t her style: Creating a loose, fun vibe was. She wasn’t a great cook, but it was hard not to be caught up in the energy of the large, communal dinners she had. The stereo would blare Frank Zappa, The Doors, or Janis Joplin, psychedelic lights might be flashing, and there were usually dancing guests. There were always children around, too.

Until I met Gabriele, these were the hostesses whose styles were most imprinted on me. From my grandmother I inherited the importance of showing your guests you care, and how a meager budget and elegant, colorful table setting aren’t mutually exclusive. From my mother, I understood how that all-essential “let’s have a good time” atmosphere could overcome even the least-appetizing meal. Then I met Gabriele’s mother, a genius at
party preparation, and my hosting horizons expanded even further: I learned how with the right organization, you can throw a perfect party, and enjoy it yourself, without feeling frantic!

Here’s great advice I can give you on turning your next small dinner party, family get-together, or bells-and-whistles blowout into an opportunity to feel that special hosting pride.

PARTY SIZE

My favorite size of dinner party is six to eight adults: It’s manageable, there’s enough space, and conversation doesn’t break off into cliques. Everybody gets to hear and participate. I’m not the kind of hostess who thinks it should be all couples, or all singles, either. We’ve had plenty of situations where it’s mostly couples and one unattached but interesting man or woman, and nobody feels uncomfortable.

My feeling about seating arrangements is usually every-guest-for-his-or-her-self, but it’s occasionally fun to put people together who you know have never met before. For us that’s often turned out fabulously, and each guest ends up having the time of their lives. When I plan the seating, I encourage my daughters to design place cards, a task they love.

TABLE SETTING

At the end of the day, any home cook can offer a great table experience. When we lived in Los
Angeles, our garden was an exciting source of table ideas: ferns, leaves, eucalyptus branches, birds of paradise, and fresh flowers. Something to always remember is that whatever’s gracing the center of your table should be very low. I don’t like it when I have to crane my neck around the floral arrangement to see the person across from me. A small sturdy cup of water or a short vase will do the trick. Sometimes I like to float a gardenia blossom in a bowl. It opens up at the table and offers a beautiful fragrance. And if you don’t have a garden, just go to a local florist or corner store and buy something inexpensive. Or skip the flowers altogether and go with low candles, always a sublimely decorative option. Then there’s letting your ornamental imagination fly with well-placed tchotchkes. In our house that might translate into displaying our cute collection of miniature musical instruments, or glass fruit, or my proud collection of tiny, vintage mini-spy cameras and lady shavers! If it’s a conversation starter, all the better. As for plates, the dark-colored kind look better than white once your beautifully presented food gets cut and moved around. Remember, you’re looking to make the table a happy, lively, and visually appealing place.

THRIFT STORES ARE YOUR FRIEND

I didn’t have a lot of money when I moved into my first place—yet I still wanted to entertain, even though I couldn’t afford to buy stuff from specialty shops or department stores. That’s when I fell in love with flea markets, vintage shops, yard sales, and junk stores. Sure, the items there are not top dollar, and finding pieces that match is a lost cause, but you will still find beautiful things that have a history. A fancy dinner may be exquisitely decorated with the best wine and floral arrangements, and an overwhelming sense of matchy-matchiness, but when you go to someone’s home and the vibe is of stylish, hand-picked pieces with character—a cool, unusual tablecloth, an eccentric salt-and-pepper shaker, mementos from other countries, with different wine glasses at every setting—it adds so much color and excitement. I think the personalized touch is much more important than the dining display that smacks of money, and the more you become acquainted with thrift spots, the keener your eye will become to making beautiful table design happen on a budget.

Although I prefer the personal experience of seeking and discovering that comes from haunting thrift shops and garage sales, remember that eBay is a great resource, too, for deals on dishes, glasses, and vases when you don’t have time to get out.

NAPKINS

A napkin is there to serve a purpose—to protect your clothes and to keep your hands and face clean. That said, I love a cloth napkin as a way to
dress up a table. But I’m very utilitarian about it. I don’t want them pressed or rolled up or stuffed into a napkin holder, and they don’t all need to be the same print or color, either: just roughly the same size. I stay away from dark-colored napkins because I believe when people wipe their mouths, they want to see that the napkin’s done the job. I also go with older cotton napkins, if possible, because they’re often heavier and more durable and wash well. Before I use them, I always wash them in very hot water and bleach. I prefer cotton to linen because I don’t have to iron them, and anything’s better than synthetic, which absorbs nothing and leaves white lint on your clothes.

VASES, DECANTERS, AND PITCHERS

Over the years, I’ve amassed a wonderful collection of vintage vases and pitchers that sometimes get used for floral arrangements or as vessels for drinking water, depending on the mood. When it comes to wine though, I have found that the right vase can also make an interesting wine decanter. I have a couple of small ones made of terra cotta, one with red grapes on it for red and white grapes for white. This isn’t for fancy wine, mind you. We have expensive decanters, too, and if the bottle is pricey and the dinner party is small and kid-free, we use those. But if you find a vase you think would make a good decanter, fill it up with very hot water and bleach, then scrub it vigorously with a baby-bottle brush. I’m telling you, vases as decanters make for great conversation pieces.

WINEGLASSES

How many times have we been at someone’s house when a wineglass gets knocked over and breaks? That’s why my favorite glass for drinking wine is a classic Italian trattoria glass:
solid-bottomed and small, with real weight to it. It’s casually festive and doesn’t make you fear you’ll snap it in two in your hand. Trattoria glasses prevent excessively poured amounts, too, so people can think they’re drinking more when they’re really not. They’re great all-purpose glasses also, whether for adults having an afternoon caffè or kids drinking juice. You can also buy them in bulk inexpensively at a place like Crate & Barrel or Sur La Table, which makes replacing them not a big deal.