Grilled razor shell clams
( Cannolicchi grigliati )

Dip razor clams in abundant cold water with salt for almost 2 hours to remove all sand.
At this point remove the clam from the shell. Shuck the meat from the shell by cutting the connecting muscle from the shell. Cut off the black tip of the 'neck', if I can use this word. For cleaning in the best way remove anything that isn't white. Wash under cold running water both the clam and the shell to remove the remaining sand. Put the clam in one of the two shells and place all shells in a pan with foil.
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Crumble the roll and add some dry breadcrums, vinegar, olive oil, aromatic herbs. Season to taste with salt and stir. Pour in other oliveoil to have an homogeneous mixture. This mixture must be enough to spoon all the shells evenly.
Bake for ten minutes.
Serve them hot.

Note

• - You can see the raw molluscs in the photo.
• - It's impossible to quantify nutritional facts because it's difficult to know exactly the right quantity of plain dried breadcrumbs and olive oil. But razor clams proteins and total fat are very low: 15 and 2.2 g per 100 g.
• - You can also use soft part of the bread instead of dry bread.
• - But we have to tell you there are a lot of versions about grilled razor clams in Italy. Some people season to taste with black pepper or red chilli pepper. Other people add quartered cherry tomatoes and some tablespoons of white wine.
  Our special ingredient is tomato vinegar. Besides we use dried aromatic herbs because we prepare razor clams (cannolicchi in Italian) only in winter. They're expensive molluscs and so we can find them only on holidays.
• - According to experienced cooks this is the only way to taste razor clams. In fact their meat become tough if they are cooked too much and so they aren't very suitable for pasta sauce. Besides they suggest to prepare razor clams in this way: put them in a deep saucepan together with a garlic clove, chopped parsley and olive oil; let them open on a high flame and taste them with their cooking juice (don't cook for more than 2-3 minutes).
• - At last we tell you some people eat them raw, sprinkled with lemon juice. But we don't like this recipe.

What's the right wine for " Grilled razor shell clams "?

Our suggestion is: Orvieto bianco or Vermentino di Gallura (both are white wines from Italy)