A rich creamy New England Clam Chowder that even the non-chowder fans will enjoy Plenty of clams for the clam fans and enough clam taste, but plenty of creamy bacony goodness to satisfy everyone else. Because everything is better with bacon
New England Clam Chowder
Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 Package thick sliced bacon
3 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped clams
1-2 small bottles of clam juice
1 cup minced yellow onion (roughly 1/2 a large onion)
1 cup big celery chunks*
2 cups cubed potatoes (not too small, nice bite sized)
1 cup diced carrots (not too small, nice bite sized)
3 tbs butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart half-and-half cream**
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper to taste
3-4 Chives***
*Your going to fish these out of the pot, so cut them big
**You could easily go half skim milk and half half-and-half to cut some calories!
***Optional but nice color! Good flavor
Servings: Make one big pot full of soup so ~6-8 servings
Instructions:
Drain juice from the clams into a medium sauce pan over the celery, potatoes and carrots. Add clam juice to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender. Crumble or chop 1-2 sliced of the bacon into the pan as soon as they are ready (next step), no rush but it helps get some of the bacon flavor into the veggies.
Meanwhile fry the bacon in a pan to desired crispness (over cook slightly if you like very floppy bacon). Set the bacon aside, reserve bacon fat (all of it).
If you have the burners for it, also sautee the onions with the 3 tbs of butter until they are mostly translucent.
As soon as the bacon and onions are ready... in a large pot, add the bacon grease (all of it - you should have about a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of fat in the pot, add butter if you do not have enough fat) to the pan and warm. Whisk in flour until smooth, cook for a minute or two. Things may get clumpy, don't panic! Whisk in cream in about three additions stirring until smooth before the next addition. Stir constantly until thick and smooth, bring just to just before boiling, do not full boil, to take out any "flour" taste.
Remove the celery from the vegetable and broth pot, discard. Stir in vegetables and clam juice to the cream mixture. Add onions and any remaining butter in the pan with them. Heat through, but do not boil.
Chop or crumble the rest of the bacon and add with clams right before serving (really, -right before- serving or the clams with get tough). Keep soup warm for 5 minutes or so, so that the clams heat through. Stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Add chives and serve.
Nutritional Information: You probably don't want to know
Recipe From: AllRecipes.com
If you really like celery you can chop it up into bite size pieces and keep it in your chowder, but I hate the stuff. It does add good flavor to a stock, so don't skip it but it is your choice to keep it or toss it.
I also think this would be fantastic with some corn! If you like chunky soup, add some corn, maybe some peas anything goes and it will be fantastic. If you don't like chunky soups, leave this good stuff out.
If your Dad, don't skip the onions. I know you don't like them but they add a lot of the soup. Your really not going to taste them, when you cook them up in all that butter and then drown them in a delicious creamy bacon soup they add so much flavor but don't at all taste like onions.
This soup is rich, so if you want to cut out some fat, don't skip the bacon or the butter, skip some of the half and half. I think you could use half skim milk and still have a very creamy soup. It might thin it out a little so if you like thick soups add a little more than the 3/4 c flour if subbing skim milk. This soup is pretty thick and creamy as is, so no extra flour if you like them thick.
