Razor clams with garlic parsley and white wine
Navaja means blade or razor and like the English razor clam, it refers to that most phallic of sand dwelling creatures. My local fish stall was selling them at a special price today so I thought I´d give them a go. They weren´t exactly cheap but 14€ for a kilo of super fresh clams seemed fair.
Reading on the internet I found recommendations to soak them in salty water to get out the sand. This livened them up and they started to bubble and shoot out their white protuberances (I told you they were phallic). I tried to film their activity but every time I got the camera out they fell strangely silent so you´ll have to take my word for it. As with all live seafood I find this stage is the most dangerous because they will try to make friends with you so you feel bad for eating them (a particular problem with crabs and their cute googly eyes) but the only part of a razor clam that looks like a face looks like the fang filled mouth of the alien in Alien vs Predator, so I didn´t feel too bad for despatching them in hot oil.
Razor clams coming out of their shells to say hi
I heated up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a lidded pan and softened some chopped garlic in it. I put in the clams and added a splash of white wine before putting on the lid. After a minute or so I removed the clams that were open as I´d read that if you cook them too long they go rubbery. Once they were all open I took them out and reduced down the liquid by turning up the heat until it bubbled. I then added salt, pepper, the juice of half a lemon and some chopped parsley. I poured this over the clams to serve.
Razor clams in hot oil (sorry guys)
Reducing down the sauce
Some of them were sandy so I think next time I´d wash them through more bef0re cooking. The flesh has quite a sweet taste but is a bit rubbery. Overall conclusion, easy to cook but for the same money I could have bought 5 kg of mussels which have a nicer texture and are easier to clean (you can see the beards on mussels to remove them whereas with razor clams you just have to hope all the sand has come out). Also, I´ve had nicer ones in bars where they cook them straight onto the plancha (griddle). One to leave to the experts.
The finished dish
Spain is delicious 