Linguine alle Vongole

In my recipe file, there is a hastily scribbled recipe for linguine with clams I copied from an email my mom sent me the first time I was in Rome. It has eight years of accumulated olive oil stains on it. When I made this in Rome my vegetarian roommates claimed they could hear the clams screaming. I have modified the Passion of the Clams with inspiration from Ristorante Piatti in Seattle, which does a great version of it. I don't use clam broth, which was in the original recipe, but if you don't like cooking with alcohol, you can replace the wine with it. I highly recommend the wine, though.

Ingredients:
1 lb. linguine
1/4 c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, slivered
3-6 dried chile peppers, depending on taste
1 c. dry white wine
2 lb. small hardshell clams
2 T chopped parsley
bread for sopping up extra sauce

1. Start cooking the linguine first, because the clams don't take long to cook.

2. About six or seven minutes before you expect the pasta to be done, heat the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold all the clams. Add garlic and peppers and stir over medium heat for a minute. Add wine and boil briskly until liquid is reduced by about half.

3. Add the clams and steam just until they're all open (you can remove them to the serving bowl as they open to prevent overcooking, as there are always a few stubborn ones).

4. Drain the linguine. Toss the clams and sauce with the pasta, sprinkle with parsley, and serve with bread.