Dig for Your Dinner! Pan-Seared Razor Clams with Fennel Recipe
Just when the gray skies lock down over the Pacific Northwest, there is an alternate world of outdoor enthusiasts and clam lovers who welcome winter. It’s the season of razor clams. Razor clams are considered the delicious big boys of the Northwest clam world, and digging for them takes a keen eye, a tolerance for cold weather, and a love for being outdoors by the sea. Don’t miss out on this classic Northwest dig up and down the Pacific coast. The low tide openings for razor clams are often at night and making a nighttime beach adventure for the whole family. Click Here for the 2023 Washington razor clam schedule (subject to change), along with links on current information on closures.
Always call the hotline before digging for beach closures due to marine toxins: 1-800-562-5632.
Razor Clam Beaches: Long Beach, Twin Harbors Beach, Copalis Beach, Mocrocks Beach.
Map from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Pan-Seared Razor Clams with Fennel
The simpler the preparation of these delicious clams, the better--and pan searing is the best. If you overcook them, they will be tough; undercook, and the texture is rubbery. Serve with a salad and a baguette split in half, rubbed with olive oil and grilled.
Makes 4 servings
7 tablespoons salted butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh fennel bulb
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
20 razor clams, cleaned and flattened
Chopped fennel greens, for garnish
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the fennel, and cook until the butter takes on a golden-brown cast and the fennel is slightly caramelized.
Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the lemon juice. Set aside.
Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When a drop of water sizzles on the pan, add the oil and swirl it around. Place a few of the clam steaks in the pan, and cook until browned, about 2 minutes.
Flip and cook the other side until browned, another 2 minutes.
Place the clam steaks on an ovenproof plate, and place in the warm oven.
Fry up the rest of the clams, adding more olive oil as needed. Meanwhile rewarm the fennel butter over low heat. Transfer all the clams to a serving platter, and pour it over them.
For a finishing touch, sprinkle the fennel greens over everything.