New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder is my favorite soup of all time. Especially on a cold snowy winter day. Especially in a bread bowl. In a large bread bowl. My first tasting of this soup was actually far from New England. It was in a cafe by the side of the road in San Francisco. I was there sightseeing with my parents and we had taken a tour of the city and the outskirts. It was in the middle of March and the weather that day was miiiiiserable – cold, windy, rainy-the kind of horizontal vertical rain that confuses your umbrella senseless.  And there we were, the three of us, ordering our first bread bowls of clam chowder.  Since then I’ve been hooked. Have actually promised myself to try making clam chowder for years, but somehow haven’t gotten around to it until now. This is the only recipe I’ve tried to make myself but I think it’s pretty close to the restaurant quality soup.  It’s not as thick initially but gets thicker with time (especially by the next day).

Recipe adapted from Cooking for Engineers

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons bacon grease (reserved from 4 pieces of fried bacon)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 pound russet potatoes, diced (1-2 potatoes)

1 tablespoon flour

2 10oz cans of clams

8 oz bottle of clam juice

1 cup half and half

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat bacon grease and fry onions until translucent.

2. Add the potato and fry until potato covered in bacon fat then add flour and mix until potato and onion are coated.

3. Pour in clam juice and bring to a boil (keep stirring to make sure potatoes and onion don’t stick to pan). After mixtures comes to a boil simmer covered for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

4. Mix together half and half and heavy cream and add to the pot along with the clams.

5. Stir and heat until hot (do not let the soup come to a boil)

6. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Share and Enjoy

Tagged as: clam chowder, clams, seafood, soup