Last week as I queued for my pollock the couple in front of me were buying razor clams. I don't think I've seen them anywhere other than on a beach before, and even then it's only their abandonned shells.
This week I took my courage in both hands and bought eight of them for dinner. I asked the fishmonger's advice on how to cook them and he advised me to treat them pretty much the same as mussels ie steam them in white wine with shallots, garlic etc. He also suggested that I google 'razor clam recipes' for further inspiration.
As I made my way home I remembered the half ring of chorizo I had in the fridge and decided that its rich smoky tones would complement the creamy smoothness of the shellfish.
Imagine my surprise when the first recipe that popped up on my internet search was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's one for - yes, you've guessed it - razor clams with chorizo!
I'm not terribly squeamish but cleaning the razor clams was a bit disturbing, particularly when they started emerging and squirting water. I managed a cursory rinse under the tap but was very grateful when my husband volunteered to give them a good scrub.
They took but a couple of minutes to cook and we were soon sitting down to bowls of steaming broth with thick slices of Mark's oaty groaty (to which I am officially addicted) for dunking.
I like to think that Hugh would be proud of me! 
Another thing I've never had--razor clams! I've never met a shellfish that I didn't like though. Seafood and chorizo always go so well together that I'm sure this was yummy. Wish I could watch Hugh's Fish Fight over here in the US. I have a couple of his books and love his take on food.
ReplyDeleteHugh's one of my heroes. He's based in the southwest which is where I live, and I once spotted him at our annual Organic Food Festival. There are now over 635,000 people supporting his campaign. He's certainly spurred me, and atleast one fellow blogger, on to experimenting with unfamiliar fish.
ReplyDelete