My husband suggested Chow Mein noodles for next time, so I’ll probably buy some and see if they work out, though I usually think they taste like bad grease. Ugh. Perhaps I’ll fry up some fresh wonton skins instead… But really, I don’t think this salad needs them. The peanuts are sufficient enough for me.

Ingredients:

Note: I cook for 2. If you’re cooking for more, adjust accordingly.

1 cup green cabbage, shredded
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
2 cups bok choy, sliced, diced, torn, or however you like it
2 tbsp. cilantro
1-2 bone-in chicken breasts, shredded (see note in intro)
1-2 large carrots
1-2 celery ribs
peanuts (add a palm-full to individual plates so they don’t get soggy)

Dressing Ingredients:

1/8-1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 tbsp. sesame oil
6-8 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated or food processed

Muddle all ingredients and let sit while you prepare the salad. Give a final vigorous stir before dressing the greens.

Guidelines:

If you’re using bone-in chicken breasts, heat a large saucepan of water over medium-high heat. Add salt and pepper. Once the water starts to boil, add the chicken breasts, turn the heat down, and simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until the meat pulls away from the bone easily. Remove from pan, let cool, shred.

Toss green cabbage, red cabbage, and bok choy with the cilantro.

Chop the celery and carrot. Add to cabbage and bok choy.

Add shredded chicken.

Toss all ingredients with the salad dressing.

Put on individual plates and top with peanuts.

You can stuff calzones with any pizza topping ingredient. In this recipe, I choose to roast sweet cherry tomatoes with olive oil and sea salt. Along with mozzarella, that was my main ingredient. Simple but delicious. For the sauce, I made a basil marinara sauce which lent a bright, fresh flavor to the calzone. It’s not necessary to use fresh mozzarella in this recipe, either. Not that it wouldn’t work, but it doesn’t melt as well, and will cost you twice as much for the amount you’d need to buy.

Ingredients:

one batch of pizza dough, divided into fourths; I LOVE the recipe on Julie Jams, available here
1 bundle or container of cherry tomatoes
olive oil
sea salt
¾ -1 lb. mozzarella cheese, grated

Basil Marinara Sauce Ingredients:

A word of caution: I didn’t measure these ingredients exactly… Feel free to adjust as you see fit.

one large bunch basil, about 2 cups, roughly chopped
3 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
large spoonful of tomato paste
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
olive oil, about 3 tbsp.
fresh ground pepper
salt to taste

Guidelines:

Make your pizza dough several hours before you plan on using it. It will need time to rise.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place cherry tomatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt just as they begin to burst. Roast tomatoes for another 15-20 minutes, or until they have completely burst. Once the tomatoes have come out of the oven, keep the oven on to this temperature to bake the calzones.

In the meantime, prepare your basil marinara sauce. Combine all of the sauce ingredients except for the tomato paste into a blender or food processor and blend until relatively smooth. Transfer to a small sauce pan, add tomato paste, and heat on medium-low heat. Stir until the tomato paste is incorporated. Keep warm while calzones cook. You will use the remaining sauce for dipping.

Grate the mozzarella.

Once the dough is ready to be worked with, divide it into four equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, stretch the parts into relatively round shapes.

Over the entire circle, spread a thin layer of the basil marinara sauce.

On one half of the circle, place a mound of cheese. Place about 5 cherry tomatoes on top of the cheese, then top with more cheese.

Fold the other half of the dough over the stuffed half and press the edges shut. Prick several times with a fork so it will release steam and not burst. Sprinkle top with sea salt.

Repeat for each calzone. Makes four large calzones.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Within an hour or so, all four of us had our limit and the guys were soaked. We cleaned up as best we could, piled in the Jeep, and headed for town to eat clam chowder. Nope, not homemade. Not yet. We still had to clean our score. It was a great day, one of the best I’ve had in this part of the world. And eating the clams we dug hasn’t been so bad either. In fact, if I’m being honest, I think we’ve kind of overdosed on them! Even my husband, who isn’t a seafood lover, chowed down.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, or visit and have the chance to go razor clam digging, do it! Here are two ways you can then enjoy your hand dug clams.

Clam Fettuccine

This is more an idea than a recipe. It’s very versatile. Use whatever pasta you have on hand—linguine, spaghetti, penne, anything will do–and any style of tomatoes and fresh herbs. Well, not any fresh herbs. I wouldn’t recommend dill, for example. But basil, parsley, a small amount of oregano, maybe even chives, would probably taste good. You can even add pine nuts if you’d like. Or zucchini, yellow squash, onions… you see what I’m getting at, don’t you?

Anyway, here’s how I made it, using what I had on hand:

For two people:

½ lb. fettuccine
¼ cup pasta water, reserved from boiled fettuccine
1 cup fresh clams, cut into bite-size pieces ( I prefer the more tender digger part.)
3 tbsp. butter
1 heaping tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tomato, diced
handful of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
handful of fresh basil, chiffonade
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Guidelines:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente. Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta water, then drain fettuccine.

In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted, add chopped garlic. Simmer until fragrant, taking care not to burn.

Add clams and cook in butter and garlic until they no longer look transparent, but take on a milky white color.

Add diced tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Don’t cook long, just warm through. At this point, you can add a splash of seafood stock to the pan if you have it. Otherwise, use ½ of your reserved pasta water.

In a large pasta bowl, place the pasta. Toss with the remaining pasta water. Top with the clam mixture, toss, to combine, and add freshly grated Parmesan cheese and the fresh basil.

Deep Fried Clams with Spicy Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

This is a simple breaded and fried recipe. Serve the bite-size clams pieces with the spiciest horseradish cocktail sauce you can find/stand.

For two people:

2-3 clam necks, or 6-8 diggers, cut into bite-size pieces is plenty.
2 eggs
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ cup bread crumbs
enough canola oil to mostly fill a small sauté pan

Guidelines:

Dredge your bite-size clam pieces in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil until dark golden brown. Remove and let drain on paper towels. Serve with the spiciest cocktail sauce you can find/stand. If you can only find mild, purchase horseradish and add some into the cocktail sauce.