In part 4 of linguine alle vongole – the finer points of a perfect pasta, Francesco Mazzei stresses the importance of cooking with an understated extra virgin olive oil that won’t overpower the vongole.

By freezing and then partially thawing extra virgin olive oil, three-star chef Gérard Passédat of Le Petit Nice in Marseille transforms EVOO into a soft but very much solid topping that can be used like table butter. You can spread it over toast, cut it into cubes to scatter over  hot potatoes or place thin slices [...]