A delicious recipe from Jacob Kenedy of Bocca di Lupo 

“This dish is based on a pasta they enjoy in Campania- short ditali cooked with clams and beans. I prefer it without pasta: it makes for a lighter meal, the summer flavours of clams, beans, tomato and basil singing out like a shrill trumpet calling me south.”www.boccadilupo.com 

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main

500g main clams (vongole veraci), or other bivalves – surf clams, cockles or mussels

300g cherry tomatoes (datterino or baby plum are best), halved

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

A pinch of crushed dried chilli flakes

80ml extra virgin olive oil

75ml white wine

300g cooked, drained cannellini beans

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

8 basil leaves, torn

Heat a very wide pan over a very high heat until it smokes. Combine the clams, tomatoes, garlics, chilli and oil in a bowl (if your pan’s not going to be wide enough to hold them all in more or less a single layer, omit the clams for now and add them after the tomatoes have fried for a couple of minutes). When you think the pan shouldn’t possibly get any hotter, add the bowlful of ingredients all at once.

Cook, shaking the pan from time to time until a few of the clams pop open. Season with pepper and a tiny bit of salt and add the wine. Let it bubble for a minute, then add the cannellini beans and parsley. Boil until the beans are hot through, and the last of the clams have popped open – not very long. Stir in the basil and serve immediately.