Grilled Madras Razor Clams with Sautéed Rainbow Chard and Cornish New Potatoes
I have a lot of love for Borough market and make a point of visiting regularly. My obsession has got to the point that I make a checklist of things to buy, not dissimilar to a shopping list. Now I know that does sound unusual but I do live some distance from the market and its not like I’m doing my local weekly shop.
Last week I set off with a cool box in the back of the car as I had noted on my list to look for something fishy like scallops. The funniest thing of all is that once I got to the market I could not make up my mind and even though I had written scallops on my list I ended up with razor clams and baby squid.
I had received a box of seasonal veggies from the market packed with the new seasons bright colours from the highly coloured rainbow chard, through the bright red sun ripened vine tomatoes to the grass green English asparagus.
Amongst the array of bright colours in the veggie box were the mud encrusted fresh Cornish new potatoes. I had a warm fuzzy feeling when I opened the bag as the smell of fresh earthy mud penetrated my nostrils. This really warm cuddly feeling embraced my heart as I knew these spuds had not been stored for weeks on end in a damp shelter. The only disappointment was that I had not harvested them myself.
This dish is pretty simple but packs a magnificent punch with the fresh flavours of the ocean combined with the earthy soily tones of the muddy new potatoes and rainbow chard.
I cook the chard quickly to prevent the vibrant colours from fading and going brown.Chard in general has a strong earthy flavour therefore works well with freshly pressed garlic.
- 4 razor clams
- 2 Cornish new potatoes, if they are small use 4
- 200g rainbow chard
- Course sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 75g unsalted butter
- 1tsp Madras curry powder
- 1tbs olive oil
- ½ clove of garlic crushed
- 1 hand full English parsley
- 100g dry home made breadcrumbs
Scrub the muddy potatoes under cold running water. Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender in salted boiling water. Once cooked drain and cool slightly. Slice the potatoes in ½ cm thick slices.
Heat a non-stick frying pan with 1 tbs butter and sauté the slices of potato until golden, season well with course sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Wash the razor clams, pat dry and place them on a baking tray.
Melt 50g of the unsalted butter; mix with the Madras Curry powder and seasoning.
Preheat the grill, drizzle the madras butter over the clams. Cook the clams under the preheated grill for 6 – 8 minutes.
Separate the stalks and leaves from rainbow chard.
Chop the stalks into 1cm long pieces and julienne the leaves into ½ cm wide strips.
Wash the prepared stalks and leaves but keep them separate.
Heat a non-stick frying pan with the olive oil and start with the chopped stalks first, add seasoning and the half of crushed garlic, sauté for about 2 minutes, then add the leaves toss and sauté for a further two minutes, drain on kitchen paper.
Place the breadcrumbs and parsley in a food processor and blend until bright green, this is also known as persiliade.
Heat two main course plates, arrange the sautéed potatoes & rainbow chard and place the clams on top, finish the dish with a drizzle of the madras butter and a sprinkling of persiliade.
Serves 2
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Love razor clams… I like Borough Market when it’s less crowded early in the morning