Grilled razor clams with dandelion & black garlic butter
Razor clams. One of my favourite molluscs.
The first time I came across these oddly-shaped critters was at La Boqueria in Barcelona – that amazing food market that has the tourist flocking and the locals very well fed.
I’d since come across them at such places as New York’s Casa Uno and Chicago’s Purple Pig; relishing every soft and sweet bite, no matter how they’d been prepared.
Then I saw them at the Sydney Fish Market one time and didn’t think twice about grabbing a handful. Not that I even thought about how I’d prepare them. I’d think of something to do with them!
Pan-seared in lots of butter, garlic and oregano? Sounds perfect, but that didn’t happen.
How about grilled?
One of the dandelion plants I’ve been nurturing in my little vegetable & herb garden is big enough to be picked, so I’ve wizzed up a few leaves with butter and black garlic. I’m loving black garlic at the moment and pleased that it’s so readily available at the supermarkets these days.
I’m sure this dandelion & black garlic butter would go nicely on mussels or oysters, even prawns, but I’m more than happy with how it performs with the razor clams.
Not the prettiest looking things after they come out of the grill, thanks to the dark colour the garlic brings, but the flavour is bang on. And not as bitter as you’d expect, considering there’s dandelion in there.
| Servings |
servings
|
- 100 g butter softened
- 20 g black garlic roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh dandelion leaves rinsed & roughly chopped (discard thick stems)
- ½ cup parsley leaves
- Salt & black pepper to taste
- 12 razor clams cleaned well, see note
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese finely grated
- Fresh salad to serve
Ingredients
|
|
- Place the butter, garlic, dandelion and parsley into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Check for seasoning.
- Spread the butter mixture over the flesh of each razor clam, cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to cook. This can be done several hours before serving.
- Heat an oven grill to the highest setting and set the oven rack about 5 cm below the element.
- Lay the filled razor clams onto a baking tray, ensuring they are level to minimise the butter from melting and pouring out of the shells.
- Place the tray onto the oven rack and grill for approximately 4 minutes. Carefully remove the tray from the grill, scatter the parmesan over the clams, then return the tray to the grill for a further 1 minute.
- Serve immediately with your salad of choice.
* To clean the razor clams, there are many tutorials online you can check out. Here's a basic one that's easy to follow.
