A Clammy Macky Meal

Our rule of thumb for making meals on most days are LOCAL/SEASONAL and FRESH.... and perhaps on other days they are WHAT's AVAILABLE or what we FEEL like having... or perhaps an interaction between all 3 !  It makes more environmental, health and economical sense to eat what's seasonal and local.  Reduction of food-miles usually also = smaller carbon footprint.  

Fortunately, the UK is blessed with having an abundance of seafood.  At our local fishmonger's today, S2 had originally intended to get a semi-firm flesh fish for Chinese steamed fish dish.  However, she got detracted by the utterly fresh looking mackerel and razor clams there!  They reminded her of 2 dishes she had seen on TV cooking shows which she would like to try her hand at.  Hence it quickly got pencilled in as the star of dinner for tonight!

 

There are 2 types of razor clams.  A curved one and a straight one.  The ones shown here are the straight ones- called razor for its likeness to old-style shaving razor knifes.  These are the ones commonly found in the UK! Looking about online, one can actually go to certain beaches to clam-hunt!  The razor clams are hidden vertically in the sand, spotted only by a slight dimple in the sand, or a small squirt of water they emit.  These reminds me of geoducks in seafood restaurant tanks in Clarke Quay back home in Singapore.

I'm drawn to the razor's clam's unique shape and 'behaviour'.  Like crab, it's alive from point to point- fisherman-wholesaler-fishmonger-my fridge... and it ends in the 30 second steaming in the pan. ( give thanks before they hit the pan )  They wriggle a little with a slight shutter like- opening and closing of the shell.  As I rinsed them for grit, they made the cutest squidgy noises which momentarily deterred my intentions of cooking them. ( yes, this Pescatarian is ewil but grateful)

Flash steamed and added to a medley of sautéed vegetables, this was the eventual outcome of the R-clams.  Do you think we did it justice?  We adapted a recipe courtesy of Tom Kitchin, according to what ingredients we already had in the fridge.  M2 liked the dish but would have like more razor clams, while S2 agreed the ratio of vegetables were slightly heavy handed- thus obscuring the delicate seaside flavour of the clams.  The sauce was very tasty though!

we heart mackerel!

Another recipe S2 was keen to try was a mackerel tartare.  We looked up recipes online and once more adapted it from 2 recipes on BBC food online.  M2 was the captain of this boat, taking charge of filleting, de-boning and de-skinning and seasoning.  We wondered about the difference between a tartare and a cerviche as both dishes are essentially a sort of seasoned raw seafood salad..?   Apparently the crux is lemon juice.  Cerviche is cured in lemon juice while tartare isn't.  This was slightly perplexing as the recipe online for tartare had called for lemon juice, but we were too hungry to think of other alternatives to our reliable half lemon.  S2 loved the cucumber but felt it was probably too watery for the overall texture.  It is tricky getting the seasoning right, balancing acidity and saltiness and spiciness for the right ZING!  So more practice is needed! 

Accompanying the seafood bonanza was a simple mixed leaf salad (grown in Hackney! Yeah!) We are obsessed with our sunflower-cranberry-sesame combination.  And with all the citrus running through the seafood, opted for a pomegranate dressing to sweeten the sourness.  Topped with some slices of our homemade week-old sourdough bread (especially useful to mop up juices and sauces with).  Another fun and satisfying dinner ! :)