Littleneck Clams in Crazy Water (acqua pazza)
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Acqua pazza means “crazy water,” and the craziness may come down to how little goes into it — just water, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, chili, and olive oil. This Neapolitan method involves poaching seafood in a broth so minimal it barely qualifies as a recipe. Marcella Hazan’s Fish in Crazy Water recipe is the basic technique, and I swapped in littleneck clams instead of fish.
“What’s crazy water got to do with cooking and anyway, who wants to eat fish in water?” ~ Marcella Hazan, Marcella Cucina
I simmer fresh tomatoes, garlic, chili, and a generous pinch of saffron in plain water for half an hour, then strain them out to make a broth. The clams steam open in that broth, with garlicky sautéed cherry tomatoes and lemon juice, and then it’s all ladled over cooked soup pasta.
Since the clams and crazy water come together to make a beautiful soupy-zuppa, I decided to bulk it up with fregola (sometimes spelled fregula), a tiny pasta from Sardinia. The result feels like a brothy clam soup with a little pasta floating in it.
What goes into the crazy water pot
- Littleneck clams: The smallest and most tender of the hard-shell clams you’ll find at the fish counter. They cook and open quickly, releasing their briny juices to the broth. Cockles or Manila clams are a spot-on choice if that’s all your market has. On a recent trip to Naples, I ate the tiniest, sweetest clams tossed with spaghetti, and I haven’t stopped thinking about them. If you want clams and pasta without fussing with shells, my linguine with chopped clam sauce is ready to eat in about 30 minutes.
- Cherry tomatoes: I simmer some for the broth water for their color and acidity, then strain them out. I sauté the rest in olive oil, shallot and garlic to layer more flavor into the base of the soup.
- Fregola or pearl couscous: Fregola has an appealing toothy texture and sweet, nutty flavor, which is perfect for rustic broths like this one. I love the artisanal fregola pasta produced by Rustichella D’Abruzzo. It resembles plump grains of couscous, only they’re toasted. That said, it’s almost always a specialty store item, so I suggest pearl couscous as a very good stand-in, found in the pasta or grain aisle of most supermarkets. The almost literally pearl-sized balls are a touch smaller, rounder, and smoother than fregola, and cook in 8 to 10 minutes instead of 20. Toasted orzo or ditalini will also work. Or, you can skip the pasta and ladle everything over grilled bread rubbed with a smashed garlic clove.
Littleneck Clams in Crazy Water (acqua pazza)
Ingredients
- 20-24 littleneck clams or cockles, rinsed
- 1 pound (450 g) cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 3 whole garlic cloves, lightly smashed with the a chef's knife
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 fresh chopped red chili pepper, or ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups water
- ¼-½ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed with your fingers
- 1 cup (175 g) fregola sarda or pearl couscous
- 5 tablespoons (75 ml) Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon thinly sliced garlic
- ½ cup thinly sliced shallot
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
To clean the clams:
- Fill a large bowl with cold water then add the clams. Swish them around a little then let them soak about one hour. Lift the clams out of the water, leaving any sand or grit that settled on the bottom of the bowl.
Make the soup
- Set aside 1 cup of the cherry tomatoes. Put the rest in a saucepan with 3 whole garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 fresh chopped red chili pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼-½ teaspoon saffron threads, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow bubbling simmer and cook 30 minutes. Pour the broth through a strainer set over a bowl or a small saucepan (discard the vegetables).
- Cook 1 cup fregola sarda or pearl couscous in boiling salted water. In my experience it can take longer to cook than other types of small pasta before becoming tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil cover and keep warm
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan large enough to hold all the clams (12 inches diameter should do it). Add 1 teaspoon thinly sliced garlic, ½ cup thinly sliced shallot and reserved cherry tomatoes. Sauté a minute or two, until fragrant and sizzling. Toss in the clams, strained broth and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Cover the pan and turn up the heat to high and cook until the clams open, about 5 minutes. Discard any clams that haven't opened. Taste the broth to see if it needs salt or chili.
- Spoon the fregola or couscous into individual bowls and ladle about 1 ¼ cups of the broth over it. Set a few empty bowls on the table for the empty clam shells.
Notes
- Many supermarkets sell farm-raised clams, which are less sandy than wild ones.
- The soup is best made and served on the same day.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
This looks like a delicious dish- my family loves clams so this will definitely be on my try list!
What a beautiful dish – and this coming from a non-clam eater! As always, you have lovingly photographed your food, with a realism and lack of artifice I find particularly pleasing and refreshing. The grace and serenity of your work is an inspiration. Brava, amica! I hope your spirits are up, and I hope things are going well for you.
Adri, thank you for the really wonderful compliment – it means so much. And what do you mean non-clam eater?! Actually, although I grew up foraging for mussels and clams on the beaches where I grew up, I didn’t enjoy eating them until much later in life.