Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Razor Clam Farters...I mean, Fritters

My mind was aglow the other night trying to come up with ways to prepare all of these razor clams that we just harvested off of the Washington Coast at Grayland. I then remembered the crab fritters I made this summer (sorry, no pictures for those so they are not up...Maybe this summer though) and that was enough: clam fritters it was. I used my great grandma's cast iron skillet to fry them in and I also used Crisco to fry them, which I had never used before. They turned out great - not one fritter left over.


The first thing I did was take the whole clams and put them in the Cuisinart and pulse them about 4 times, each pulse about one second. I wanted the clam meat to stay a decent size but not too big. Above equals about 10 razor clams.


The trusted cast iron skillet, seasoned for over 50 years now...The white in the corner of the skillet is the Crisco melting.



After I made up the batter, I let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour to set up before I fried them. Once they were done frying - about 2 to 3 minutes per side - I put them on a wire rack and then on a sheet pan. I used a wire rack because paper towels will make the fritter turn soft and it will lose it's crunch.



The first fritter...



The inside of said fritter...

RAZOR CLAM FRITTERS

1) 12 cleaned, whole razor clams
2) 1 cup sifted flour
3) 1 teaspoon salt
4) 2/3 cup clam nectar or a combination of nectar and a little milk
5) 2 eggs well beaten
6) 1 teaspoon pepper
7) Crisco or your favorite oil to fry in.

First take up the clams and pulse them in Cuisinart or chop them up to a medium dice; you want chunks of clam but not too bit. Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl and then fold in the clams and nectar/milk to form the batter. You want the batter sticky and able to hold together easy. To help with this, I suggest letting the batter sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Heat up a large skillet with about 3 inches of oil in the bottom. I try to keep the oil at about 350 degrees. Then drop them into the skillet with a measuring cup and cook about 2 - 3 minutes per side, flipping once. When they are done, spread them out on a wire rack and keep them warm in a 250 degree oven. They are really good with tartar sauce and a little lemon juice.



Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Razor Clams!!!

Last weekend was Quincy's first trip to the ocean to hang out and dig for clams. We stayed in Westport on Saturday night and then dug for clams on Sunday morning. We were finished in about 45 minutes! Each person is allowed 15 clams but you have to take the first 15 you dig, regardless of size or if you broke them. We used clam guns to get to them so we only had a handful that were broken but they turned out just fine. Quincy was very much in shock and awe at the water, sand, and just scene as a whole.


Above is Quincy and I Sunday morning at Grayland for the razor clam dig.



Mike and Mary gunning for clams...They are about a foot and a half under the sand.



Elaine and Quincy. We thought Quincy looked like Ralphy's brother from "A Christmas Story" with his little suit on.



A surf board will be next...



Since Mike and Mary had clammed the day before we got there as well, they gave us their share of clams for a grand total of 60 razor clams...Which had to be cleaned. So I set everything up to be as organized as possible (insert joke about Jordan's organizational skills now) and get them done as fast as possible and into the freezer.



Here is a view of my operating room...



I started cleaning the clams at 9:30PM on Sunday night. I cleaned the first three clams and then looked at the bucket and put my hands down in it to feel and see all the clams...And at that point I knew I was seriously fucked and in for a long night but I had to get them done and into ZipLock bags! I ended up finally cleaning the last clam at 11:45PM. With clean up, I was in bed at 12:15AM. Then the alarm woke me up at what seemed like five minutes later. It was a great weekend and it was worth staying up and cleaning all of those because they are so good! Tonight we are having clam fritters for dinner (recipe will follow tomorrow) and I will report how they are.




To see smiles like this...You know you've had a good weekend!

When we did get home and settled down, we decided to have King salmon for Easter dinner in true heathen fashion and bail on the ham and lamb. Ham doesn't even hold a candle to this and I don't care what anyone says.



Quincy cleaned his plate...