Clam Chowder

Today is the intersection of my looking at houses in Maine and the weather finally got chilly here today, so I made a clam Chowder. I realized that I never put a clam chowder recipe on the blog, so here is mine that is made with canned clams, which really aren’t bad when you are putting them in a chowder. Mine is also not so thick that a spoon will stand up straight in the bowl. If you like yours thicker, add a little more flour and a little less stock. I made mine with a quart of seafood stock I had left over from making lobster rolls. You can use chicken of vegetable stock, but no matter what you still need clam juice.

This will make a big pot, probably five quarts. So feel free to halve the recipe if you don’t have enough people to share it with.

Six slices of thick bacon, diced

2 T. Olive oil

2 large yellow onions diced

3 stalks of celery diced

3 leeks, well washed and just the whites sliced thickly

4 T. Flour

2 T. Thyme

4 bay leaves

2 t. Hot sauce

15 baby potatoes, quartered

1 quart of stock

1 bottle of clam juice

20 Oz. Of canned clams(whole baby or chopped) in clam juice

1 quart half and half

In a big stock pot put the olive oil and the bacon and cook on medium heat until the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

Add the onions, celery and leeks to the pot and cook on medium high for five minutes. Add the flour evenly across the veg and stir and cook for another minute. Add the thyme, bay leaves, hot sauce, stock, clam juice and potatoes and bring to a boil, cover and deuce to simmer and cook for ten minutes, until the potatoes are just fork tender.

Add the clams and a juice from cans and simmer for a few minutes. Turn the heat down and add the half and half, salt and lots of black pepper, heat slowly. Do not let the soup boil again, but if you want it to thicken up you can keep it at a simmer for a while.

Serve with Oyster crackers and the cooked bacon.