Arselle are tiny clams that live in the swash zone, and when I was a boy in the 60s, men with their pants legs rolled up would gather them by dragging a large strainer contraption through the sand of the shallows. Alas, like many other sea animals they've been overharvested and are nowhere near as common as they once were. In the absence of live arselle you'll want small live clams here. The recipe is from Versilia, the coastal plain north of Pisa, and is drawn from Mariù Salvatori Zuliani's excellent book, La Cucina di Versilia e Garfagnana.

Soak the freshly caught shellfish in a bucket of sea water for 24 hours; before you add the shellfish to the bucket slip an overturned bowl into the bottom so that the sand the animals expel will slide to the edges of the bucket, and change the water if possible at least once, though only if you have access to more sea water (an alternative to sea water is fresh water with a 2 pounds salt per 10 quarts water (1 k/10 liters); let the mixture sit long enough for the chlorine to escape before you add the clams). Once the 24 hours is passed remove the clams with a slotted spoon to a skillet. Cover the skillet and heat them as is, with no sauce or seasoning. By the time several minutes have passed they should have opened; remove them from the heat and pick through them, discarding any that haven't opened because they were already dead, and eating them could make you quite sick. When they've cooled shuck them into a glass, and when you are done shucking, add the pot liquor too, straining it through a muslin cloth to remove sand or impurities. Keep the clams cool but don't refrigerate them lest they lose their sea smell.

Come time to cook the risotto, bring the pot liquor (not the clams), 2 cups of dry white wine, and 3 cups of water to a slow boil. Mince a healthy bunch of parsley and a garlic clove. Heat a half cup of olive oil in your risotto pot, and sauté the herbs, seasoning the mixture with freshly ground black pepper. Add the rice, figuring about 1/3 cup per person (Ms. Zuliani suggests an espresso cup per person), and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Then begin to add the simmering fish or beef broth, a ladle at a time, stirring all the while. When the rice is 3/4 cooked add the clams and sufficient broth for the rice to reach the proper al dente state of doneness.

In terms of cooking time, 20 minutes. For six people you'll need 4 1/2 pounds (2 k) live clams, though more won't hurt. Given the saltiness of the pot liquor, no other salt should be necessary.

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