Six hundred years before Christ, the Greeks raised up a grand colony on the verges of the Mar Tirreno, dedicating it to Poseidon. Now known as Paestum, the whole cadence of life, as it was then and there, sits in high relief, a phenomenal diorama, traceable, floating, gleaming. The great temples, barely wounded and without a haunting, invite one inside to stay among the rests of old dreams, to race among the open pathways between them. A cordial parish, a fair Camelot, it seems, while one sits awhile on the thick tufts of grass inside the Temple of Neptune, having slipped under the easy gate to watch the sunrise, to collect armfuls of the tall, thin spears of asparagus that grow wild, treasures to take back to Alfonso to cook for lunch. He, having spent the morning gathering clams, combined the collected booty with fusilli di Felitto—beautiful pasta, hand-rolled then wound, one string at a time, around the traditional, corkscrew-shaped wires, used and prized like jewels, by the women of the nearby village of Felitto. Dishes that marry wild vegetables with sea or shellfish are typical of the Cilentini, they thinking it a thing natural to prepare their suppers with stuffs foraged from woods that fall down to the sea.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Purge the clams of their sand by soaking for an hour or so in sea-salted water, then scrub them well.
Step 2
Prepare the asparagus and drop them into a large pot of boiling, sea-salted water, poaching them for 2 to 3 minutes if they are slim as they should be, a few more if they are thicker around the middle. Drain them, reserve their cooking water, and refresh them under fresh, very cold water. Chop the asparagus roughly and set aside.
Step 3
Bring a large pot of sea-salted water and the reserved asparagus cooking water to a boil and cook the fusilli to al dente, draining them and setting them aside.
Step 4
While the fusilli are cooking, attend to the clams. In a shallow terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole over a medium flame, heat the olive oil and soften the garlic, taking care not to color it. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Add the clams, cooking them until they are opened. Remove from the flame, add the cooked fusilli and the poached asparagus to the casserole, tossing them about with the clams and their liquors.
Step 5
Return the casserole to a low flame for a few seconds only to warm the juices before carrying the whole to table and serving it into warmed shallow bowls.
Step 6
Offer a simple white wine—cold and unfazed by the challenge of the asparagus—and oven-toasted bread for the garlicky liquors.
