Ingredients

• Ingredients
  1. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  2. 1 large onion, finely chopped
  3. 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
  4. 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
  5. 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  6. One 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
  7. 2 cups bottled clam juice
  8. 2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
  9. 1/2 cup dry white wine
  10. 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  11. Large pinch of saffron threads, crumbled
  12. 1/4 pound thin spaghetti, broken into 1-inch pieces (1 cup)
  13. 2 pounds cockles or Manila clams, scrubbed
  14. Three 1-inch strips of orange zest
  15. Freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cover and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the clam juice, stock, wine, tomato paste and saffron and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until barely tender, 6 minutes.
2. Add the cockles and orange zest and cook uncovered until the cockles open, about 3 minutes; discard the orange zest. Season the soup with pepper, ladle it into bowls and drizzle with olive oil.

Serve With

Garlic toasts.