Ballerina Yasmine Naghdi cooks Linguine alle Vongole
Episode 5 in 5 O’ Clock Apron Podcast is me cooking alongside Principal Ballerina from The Royal Ballet, Yasmine Naghdi. I’ve never met a ballerina before, nor indeed cooked with one. Yasmine is everything (and more) that I could have expected of a ballerina. Confident and poised (of course), Yasmine is also an extraordinary cook.
Yasmine’s roots are Belgian Persian, but she’s a born and bred South Londoner. Yasmine attended the Royal Ballet school from age 11 and has danced her way through the ranks to the very top of the institution. Earlier this month Yasmine announced the exciting news that she is expecting her first child later this year and plans to return to performing next year.
For the recording, we meet at Yasmine’s parent’s house, “their kitchen is better suited than mine” says Yasmine, and we immediately start cleaning clams, picking herbs and chopping garlic. Yasmine is a meticulous and passionate cook, teaching me her way to make her very favourite pasta dish, Linguine all Vongole.
Remarkably organised, clearly very skilled, Yasmine cooks exactly as you might imagine a ballerina would cook, and I am in awe throughout the episode.
Huge thanks to Royal Opera and Ballet, in particular Ashley and Chloe for helping me sort this recording out, facilitating me coming to London and cooking with Yasmine. Would absolutely love to cook with an Opera Singer for the next series!
INGREDIENTS
Feeds 4
1 packet of linguine pasta
1 kg clams
6 cloves garlic
Big bunch of parsley
350ml dry white wine
Dried chilli flakes, to taste
Salt and pepper
Good olive oil, enough
METHOD
Soak the clams in a large bowl of salted cold water for 2 - 4 hours, discarding any that are open.
Roughly chop 4 of the garlic cloves and 1/2 the bunch of parsley.
In a saucepan over a moderate heat, add 3 tbsp of olive oil and fry the roughly chopped garlic and parsley with a big pinch of chilli flakes for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add 1/2 the wine and let the pan bubble up, add the clams, put a lid on the pan and cook the clams for around 3 - 4 minutes over a high heat until the shells burst open. Remove from the heat and remove any clams that refuse to open.
Put the clams and all the cooking juices in a bowl to cool. Pick over the shells, removing the clams from their shells, keeping a beady eye for any gritty clam shells, working carefully to avoid any sand and grit. Carefully strain the clam cooking juices through a fine meshed sieve to remove any grit in the liquid. Yasmine did this x4 times, I sieved mine x3 times. Keep this liquid to one side, likewise the clams.
Finely chop the remaining 2 garlic cloves and the parsely.
Cook your pasta in a large pan of well salted boiling water until firmly al dente, check the pasta cook time on the packet and knock off 3 - 4 minutes to keep it on the firm side of cooked..
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over a moderate heat, add another couple tbsp of olive oil, add the finely chopped garlic along with most of the finely chopped parsley and another big pinch of dried chilli flakes to taste.
Cook for 2 minutes until all is fragrant, add the remaining wine and let the mixture come to a bubble. Add the clam cooking juices to warm through.
Using tongs, add the pasta to the saucepan, along with some of the pasta cooking water that is clinging to the cooked pasta, and then continue cooking the pasta in the pan with the clam cooking juices. Mix vigourously, coating the pasta in the cooking juices and reducing the liquids to thicken in the pan with the pasta.
Add the reserved clams, mixing well coat, check the seasoning, adding plenty of freshly ground black pepper to taste, and a little salt, if needed. Remove from the heat, and serve with a final pinch of finely chopped parsley.