Chop the peeled garlic and parsley finely. If using a whole fresh or dried red chili chop finely too. Remove the seeds to make it milder. Be careful not to touch your eyes or mouth after doing this and wash your hands well before continuing to cook.

Wash the clams in cold water and remove any with broken shells. Some kinds of clams need a lot of rinsing if they have sand in them. But you can also filter the liquid after you have precooked them, so don’t worry so much about the sand.

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it starts to boil add the pasta. You probably don’t need salt as the clams will already be a little salty.

While the water is boiling for the pasta, put the clams in a deep frying pan and cook covered over a medium to high heat until they have opened (about 5 minutes).

Allow the clams to cool a little and then remove the meat from half of the clam shells keeping the rest intact. Discard the empty shells and, if necessary, filter the liquid that the clams have produced. Don't discard it.

Cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packet.

Heat half the olive oil in a frying pan or skillet. Add the garlic and peperoncino. Cook until the garlic starts to soften. Add the clams (with shells and without) and cook for a few minutes. Then add some of the filtered clam water. Next, add the white wine (if using) and cook further until the alcohol evaporates. Continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes and then turn off the heat.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add to the pan with the cooked clams. Mix everything together well over a low heat. Add the chopped parsley and a little olive oil. Mix together again and serve immediately with another sprinkling of chopped parsley, if required.