Thursday 14 March 2013

Razor clams marinière

Razor clams are fabulous! Most commercially collected razors end up heading to the continent to the Spanish, who call them navajas and the French who call them couteaux corbes. I nabbed some before they left our shores and cooked them as a starter steamed in white wine with lots of butter, garlic and parsley just like the more conventional moules marinière.




This recipe is from The River Cottage Fish Book, my copy of which is now so splattered and beaten that it would probably make a food safety inspector wince and a cat drool.  I've made half the recipes and only one has disappointed. Check it out on Amazon here.

serves 4 as starter or halve for 2

16 razor clams
75g unsalted butter
olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 glass white wine
handful of parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper

Scrub the clams well in cold water. Heat a large deep frying pan or saucepan over a high heat. Add the butter and a dash of olive oil to stop it from burning. When hot and bubbling, add the garlic, chilli and the clams. Toss the clams and then let them fry for a couple of minutes.

Pour in the wine and let it bubble for a further minute. Then add the parsley and season well. By this time all the shells should have opened (discard any that remain shut) and the flesh cooked. Serve in warmed dishes with the cooking liquid spooned over them . Good bread for those juices is essential.

I'd love to try hunting for some wild razor clams this spring and barbecuing them at the beach. The Scots call it spooting and it's perhaps the ultimate in foraging / hunting at the beach. Let's hope for some nice warm balmy evenings and a low tide :)

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