RAZOR CLAMS

Razor clams are not very popular in the UK, but in Spain they are a delicatessen. The best way to eat them is grilled. You need:
- a couple of razor clams per person
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
-2 cloves of garlic
- parsley
- half a lemon
- salt

Fill a bowl with cold water. Add a generous amount of salt (a couple of spoonfuls), put the clams into the bowl and let them rest for a couple of hours. That way you will ensure there is no sand inside the clams as the sand miraculously gets out win you add the salty water (without you having to clean the clams one by one)

Then blend the oil and garlic in a blender or just by mincing the garlic and adding it to the oil (I usually blend half a glass of oil with garlic in the weekends and keep it in a glass jar. It lasts for a week and you can use it for grilling and also for roasting vegetables)

Heat a grilling pan, add the oil and garlic, immediately afterwards add the clams and wait for a minute (a minute and a half at the most) Put the clams on the serving plate and sprinkle them with parsley and lemon juice. I think they do not need salt, but if you disagree, then add some.

The shape of these clams is interesting for kids, because they look like knives. In fact in Spain they are called 'navajas', i.e. pen-knives.

DRIED APPLE CAKE

This is one of those cakes that you leave on the kitchen table and it disappears in no time at all. It is done with dried apples, which I have recently discovered for cakes, and they make the cake rich and dense. You need:

- 150 gr dried apple chunks
- a glass of water
- 175 gr sugar
- 175 gr plain flower
- a teaspoon of baking soda
- 85 gr sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- zest of one lemon
- butter to grease the loaf mould

Preheat the over at 185 degrees. Grease the loaf mould and then cover it with baking paper.

Put the dried apples with the glass of water in a microwave dish and microwave for 4 minutes at the highest setting. Then drain the apple chunks to get rid of the water.

Mix all the ingredients but the apple. When they are mixed well add the apple chunks and mix again (you may feel there is too much apple for the cake butter, but just keep mixing until all the apple chunks are coated). Put it all into the mould and bake for 55 minutes.

Children like helping with this cake and also eating it. Be careful so that they do not get hurt when you take the apple chunks out of the microwave as the water will be very hot.