Uh-oh, no eggs????

I had taken my very last bag of razor clams out of the freezer this morning to defrost.

I was fantasizing about crispy clam fritters all day.

Finally time to make dinner, only to discover that we had no eggs!  Kind of a main ingredient in clam fritters!

Although this dish was a totally different taste than what I had been dreaming about, it was surprisingly delicious!

Seared Clams with Brown Butter

6 tablespoons salted butter
1 lemon
olive oil
24 razor clams or 24 littleneck clams
1 tablespoon chives, minced
fresh ground black pepper
Directions:

1
Heat butter in a saucepan, over medium heat, until it turns brown and is fragrant; remove from heat, stir in juice from one lemon, and set aside.
2
Heat a large griddle, or cast iron skillet, over high heat; once very hot, coat with olive oil and place clams, hinge side down, if possible, on griddle or skillet.  (I had just chopped them for fritters, so I just cooked them chopped did them this way instead of whole!)
3
Cook until they open, about 5 minutes; turn over and cook until the meat just starts to brown ( cook in batches, if necessary).  (this would probably have worked better if my pan wasn't so full - I just kept draining off the juice and probably cooked them 5 minutes total or less)
4
Transfer clams to a serving platter.
5
Reheat butter sauce, stir in chives, and season with pepper; spoon over clams.

We served this over baked potatoes - I just split them open and kind of roughed up the inside and spooned the clams in butter on top of the tater.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!