I was in this tapas/seafood bar in Malaga the day after New Years, and one of the items on the blackboard was something called NAVAJA. I quickly asked one of the waiters what it was and he rubbed his hands across his cheeks like he was shaving and he uttered RAZOR. He then showed me what it was. It was this thin long shellfish, about
the size of pen, perhaps thicker, with a shell on one side. I tried it and I saw the chef basically just put it on the grill and then served it. It was great and for some reason reminded me of "mirugai", a type of clam served in sushi bars.

Does anybody know more about this NAVAJA. I have never seen it here in North America but then again, maybe, I'm just in the wrong place. Is this indigenous to the Southern part of Spain? Any info would be appreciated.

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Hi, now you have me curious. My sister in law is a marine biologist and I had a heck of a time trying to explain what a percebe was until she said she thought it was a goose barnacle (or something like that).

I looked up navaja on vox.es and it translated as such:

nombre femenino (molusco) razor-shell.

But it's not something I've ever heard of either.

Does anyone out there know of a culinary or marine Spanish - English dictionary????

Churrito

It's a razor clam, I think--there are varieties of razor clams on both American coasts...if you do a search on google (I tried "razor clam"), you might see a photo of the thing you ate! From my search, it looked like there are all shapes and sizes of these clams.

Also, this link includes translations of "razor clam" into Spanish and French--including "navaja":
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/bil/fishlist/cantransfolder/rcantransfolder/razorclam.shtml

And churrito, the site with the link above is like a marine dictionary, at least of marine things you can eat--it's a great resource for the common names of various types of seafood--in English, French, and (most of the time) Spanish!!

Here's the main page link: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/bil/fishlist/canadahome.shtml

This is where you can find out what a "perro del norte" is (a catfish!!).

Tara

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

Navajas are great! They cook them on the grill with parsley, oil and garlic. Squeeze some lemon on them and chow down. They resemble a piece of white asparagus in a shell. They can be gritty. They are called razor clams because the shell in shaped like a straight razor. They are shipped in from the rias of Galicia. They can be expensive.