pippis © Clare Richards 2009
Yesterday The Plumber and I went to one of the local coarse sand beaches to gather pippis to make fettuccine alla vongole. This particular beach has an abundant population of pippis. We started scanning the tide line on the lookout for their little air bubbles in the sand or to see them tumbling in the wash of the tide, and found a patch almost immediately.
I’ve found the best way to work is in a team, with one person standing just below the high wash mark and shuffling into the sand with their hands or feet, and the other person standing below them. This way, the top person can grab any that are dredged out of the sand beneath their feet / hands, and the second person can grab those that get tumbled into the water by the wash.
So, within half an hour we had a good haul of pippis to take home.
The next phase is cleansing them of sand so you don’t end up with a crunchy meal. Do this by putting them into a bucket of fresh water as soon as they’ve been gathered, and fill another bucket with sea water to take home. Leave them in the fresh water for an hour or two, then drain it off and leave them dry for an hour in a cool place covered by a damp towel. Then place them back into sea water, and they will then open up and suck lots of sea water in and out and so cleanse themselves. Finally, place them into the fridge in their sea water until you are ready to cook.
Pippis are mostly used for bait here in Australia and some people can’t be bothered with them because of their small amount of meat. I love their sweet sea flavour and they make the most divine pasta sauce, which tastes all the better for having gathered them yourself on a blue sky day from the local beach.
- © Clare Richards 2009 Fettuccine alla vongole (pasta with pippis)
Fettuccine alla vongole
(equipment: need one pasta pot, one deep sided frypan or wide saucepan, and three bowls for sorting cooked pippis)
for two generous serves
enough uncooked pasta for two people
about 2 kg (7 – 8 cups) fresh pippis in their shells
1 cm slice butter (about 50g / 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 heaped tbsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
2 finely sliced cloves garlic
1 tsp salt for cooking pasta
1 cup dry white wine
3/4 to 1 cup sour cream
Melt butter and add olive oil, then add garlic and thyme, cook briefly until garlic softens but before it goes golden or brown, then immediately add a batch of pippis and a glass of dry white wine, turn heat to high, put on lid and hold down to increase heat and steaming. (Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.) Steam pippis for 1 – 3 minutes in small batches, just until all pippis are open, then remove each batch from pan with a skimmer into a bowl and place the next batch in the pan.
Put pasta into boiling water with 1 tsp salt. Keep an eye on pasta while completing the next step of removing meat from pippis. Remove pasta from heat and strain when al dente, reserving some liquid (in case it is needed at the end to thin the pippi sauce).
Remove all flesh from the pippi shells and reserve flesh into a bowl. Strain cooking juice through muslin in a sieve to catch any remaining grit. Pour strained pippi juices into frypan and bring to a rolling boil, add wine and reduce to about 1 cup liquid.   Reduce heat to medium and add half of fresh parsley and tarragon then 3/4 cup sour cream and mix until incorporated.
Add pippi meat and heat for another minute or so until pippis are warmed. Taste for salt and season if needed (shouldn’t need to due to sea water in the pippis). If the sauce is too thick add a little bit more white wine or some cooking water from the pasta. Then add fettuccine to pan and mix through until well coated with sauce.
Remove from heat, serve into two bowls, garnish with remaining parsley and tarragon and serve. Can add some finely grated parmesan, or a little bit of finely sliced fresh chilli, but I generally find the flavours of this dish are perfect without adding anything further.
© Clare Richards 2009
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