We always enjoy a “Sea to Table” culinary adventure when we visit our daughter and family at their Hood Canal cabin in Washington State. The setting is beautiful, and the seafood is plentiful. The mouth watering food pictured below was devoured on a previous visit!
Our grandson, Henry, loves to dig for clams at the waters edge, and he really wanted to show his visiting cousins from Indiana how it’s done.
Armed with some wicked looking implements, all four of our older grandchildren – Henry (10) and brother Max (8), and siblings Bridget (11) and Seamus (10) – tackled the rocky coast at lowest tide. Digging down four or five inches, they looked for the buried ridged clam shells, unearthing them and checking to make sure they were tightly closed.
After finding a nice amount of good prospects, they went through the bucket of clams to give a final inspection, choosing 17 large butter clams and 3 smaller native littleneck clams. They rinsed the dirty clams and filled the bucket with fresh water so the mollusks would rid themselves of grit.
After an afternoon soak, the kids turned the clams over to our daughter, Carrie ( Henry’s mom), to open so they could pull out the edible mussels. There’s a lot of “ugly guts” in the middle of the bigger clams! The kids were after only the thin pink muscle at the edge and the small pink “foot” in the center for our “Sea to Table” treat.
You can find Carrie’s favorite (and most delicious) clam chowder recipe from Hama Hama Oyster Company blog in my September 2021 post, Sea to Table at Carrie’s Cabin, but Fried Clam Strips were on the menu this visit! She had a package of clam meat in the freezer, which she thawed and added to the kid’s haul to guarantee a heaping appetizer helping.
Fried Clam Strips
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Blend dry ingredients in a bowl
- Beat an egg with 1 tsp water in a separate bowl
- Rinse clam strips, drain and pat dry
- Heat oil (375 degrees) and fry clams in batches:
- When oil is hot, dredge clams in flour, then dip in egg mixture, and dredge in flour again. Add to hot oil, stirring until browned all over.
- Drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.
- Serve with ketchup (or remoulade sauce) for dipping
What an awesome job these kids did on their “Sea to Table” appetizer experience! Seamus, a first-timer for fried clam strips, said, “WOW, this is like fried calamari – and I LOVE that!” So proud of these guys!
