New England Clam Chowder

By johnwhorfin

Ingredients

• 3 pounds (1,3kg) fresh clams in shells, well-scrubbed
• 2 cups (500ml) water
• 2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted
• 3/4 cup (110g) diced bacon
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch (1cm) pieces
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced(into 1/4-inch (1cm) pieces
• salt and ground black pepper
• generous pinch of smoked or sweet paprika
• 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
• 1/2 cup (125ml) heavy cream
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from frame.bloglovin.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Put clams in a pot. Add water, and cover. Turn the heat on and when the water starts to boil, reduce the heat to a low boil and let the clams steam until they open, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. When the clams are cool enough to handle, pluck out the meat from the clam shells (discard any clams that don’t open), and discard the shells. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer, and set aside. Coarsely chop the clams and set them aside as well.

3. In a soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the butter and bacon together over medium heat, cooking the bacon for about 3 minutes, until it just starts to curl. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they’re translucent and soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the diced potatoes and season with salt (lightly, as the clam broth you’ll add later is salty), black pepper, and paprika. Stir a few times then add 1 ½ cups (375ml) of the clam broth. (Reserve and refrigerate any extra for later, in case you want to thin the soup.) Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Add the milk and cream, then the clams and gently warm until heated through, but do not boil. You can serve the chowder right away, stirring in the parsley just before ladling into bowls, or better yet, chill the chowder for several hours, which will give it time to meld and thicken. Rewarm it gently before serving. Taste for salt and pepper, adding more if you wish. If it’s too thick after standing, thin with a bit of the reserved clam broth when rewarming it.


Notes:

– If using canned clams, you can use about 1 ½ cups of (drained) canned clams (200-250g) and 1 ½ cups of the clam juice. If you don’t have enough juice from the can(s) of clams that you have, add water to make up the difference.

– Traditionally chowder is made with salt pork, which can be hard to find. If you want to use that in place of the bacon, you can.

– Use any kind of potatoes. Russets will break down a bit, but lends starch to the chowder. Yellow-fleshed potatoes, which are what I used.

– It’s normal for the finished chowder to have a slightly separated appearance, which I don’t mind because I like the little rivulets on the surface. One technique is to strain the liquid, puree it, then rewarm it with the clams and potatoes.