I’M A HUGE FAN of Pasta alle Vongole. This dish is similar, but because razors need to be exhumed from their shells and cleaned before cooking, you don’t get that bonus liquor found in hardshell clams. West Coast razors, of course, make up for this shortcoming with unparalleled flavor. I added chopped tomatoes to buttress the sauce. Freshly made pasta is best.
1 1/2 cups razor clams, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
10 oz linguini
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white wine
2 cups tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp oregano, chopped (optional)
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 tbsp basil, chopped (optional)
saffron or red pepper flakes (optional)
1/3 cup parmesan, grated
1. In a large sauce pan, sweat the onions and garlic over medium heat in the butter and olive oil. Add wine (I added several strands of saffron to wine half an hour beforehand) and cook for a few minutes, then add tomatoes and oregano and simmer 10 – 15 minutes. If sauce gets too thick, add a splash of water.
2. If using fresh pasta, add the razor clams to sauce when adding pasta to boil; if dried, wait until pasta is half-cooked. The razors only need a few minutes of cooking.
3. Drain and toss pasta in a large bowl with sauce, parsley, and any other herbs. Serve with parmesan.
Thanks to your earlier posts I’ve long wanted to go clamming, but this fresh spring story with great pics (and that recipe) really pinned it to my mind. We’re Minnesotans, so I think razors will have to wait and we’ll stick to the local goods for now.
p.s. Nice Westy! As an owner of an ’89, I think they’re the ideal vehicle.
I have never been clamming but it looks like so much fun plus you get an amazing reward at the end of the day! A delicious meal.
Julia – Ours is an ’88. I’m afraid we’ve been hard on it, but the Loaf (as it’s known) still gets us where we need to go–and the kids love it. Keep an eye out for land fish (morels) in your neighborhood soon.
Kindra – Razors are my favorite clam to dig, though successfully extracting a geoduck is in its own category.
This sure looks good and I trust you realize it has more grams of fat than three Big Macs.
Greeting from the Isle of Wight in England!
I often look through random food blogs for recipe ideas rather than rely on the usual standard stuff and came across your article on the finding and cooking of Razor clams.
Whilst we did not catch our clams – rather bought them in a fish market in Portsmouth – I shall be following your recipe when I cook them tonight.
I had razor clams last in Venice a few weeks ago and they were delicious … I hope my attempts this evening will be as successful.
I shall, if I may, send you a link to the food blog I write for so that you can see what we produced.
Kind regards
Peter