Carefully, scrape and clean the mussels well with the help of a knife: rinse and place them in a pan with a tablespoon of oil.
Heat the pan and once all the mussels have opened, remove them from the shell and collect them in a small bowl.
Set aside some of the cooking liquid and filter it to remove any impurities.
Rinse and open the clams in a pan in the same way.

Remove the clams from their shells and add to the mussels, being sure to toss out those that seem to have some impurities such as sand or that do not open. Filter and et aside some of the cooking liquid.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and add a clove of garlic. After a few seconds, add the cooking liquid that you set aside.

Let it thicken a bit and then add the mussels and clams.
Cook for a few moments, then remove the garlic clove.

In the meantime, cook the bucatini in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain and toss with the sauce of mussels and clams in the pan over high heat for a minute.

Chef's tips

Mussels and clams are very tasty served alone: therefore, be careful of how much salt you use to cook the pasta. You can add freshly ground black pepper just before serving!

Food history

The mussel is a bivalve mollusc such as clams, which  both have shells consisting of two parts.
The mussel is a part of the list of 100 most damaging alien species in the world compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): This list contains 100 species that have proved invasive after being released by humans in an environment alien to them, recording the tendency to spread uncontrollably in natural environments by replacing native species.
Apart from this strange tidbit of information, the mussel is one of the tastiest shellfish in the Mediterranean. Mussels can be served as a soup with tomato sauce or in rich pasta dishes made with seafood.

Other suggested recipes

• Pasta with swordfish and tomatoes
• Linguine baked foil
• Spicy pasta with fish