Wicked Cool Chowdah!

Although I'm not a Northerner by birth, I love the North, especially the North East.  I spent several years in NYC and NH, before coming back home for family.  I found I really thrive in the cold and have my fondness for their seafood, in all its many forms, knows no bounds.  So when I ended up with Clam Chowder this week for our game I was ecstatic and, honestly, a bit nervous.  I've always thought chowder or chowdah, as the New Englanders call it, would be difficult to make.  I was amazed at how wrong I had been.

First, I must take a moment to celebrate the breaking of my curse.  I actually ended up with a cookbook this week instead of TV!  Yay!!!  Actually, I was super excited until I saw my cookbook.  I had to do a few days of serious bicep workouts before I could even pick it up.  It's this ginormous thing called The New Best Recipe and it's 990 pages of recipes and other cooking advice.  Great book, but wear your back brace when you pick it up! Oy!

Now the recipe calls for 7 pounds of fresh clams, but lets get real.  I can't afford fresh clams and I don't have the time to boil and shuck all of them.  Thankfully, this book also lists substitutions and workarounds.  To replace 7 lbs of clams all you need is four cans of minced clams, in juice, and two bottles of clam juice.  So much simpler and cheaper.

Okay, lets start by draining our clams.  You want to reserve the juice in a separate bowl.  Combine it with the bottles of clam juice and a cup of water so that you end up with 5 cups total.  One word of warning - clams stink when you first open that can. Peeeww!!

Cut up your bacon and fry it in a large stockpot.  Once the fat is rendered toss in the onions and let them cook down until they're softened.  At this point I would like to get serious for a moment.  *Puts his arm around your shoulder*  It's okay to cry when cutting onions.  We all do it.  Heck even I do it.  You heard me.  I turn into a drooling, sniffling, weeping baby when I cut onions (and watch chick-flicks) and this does not make me less of a man. Sniffle.

So hopefully you've had your music cranked up and you are working like a fiend, because this process is going to move wicked fast.  I will be honest here, I didn't read the recipe fully before getting started and I got caught here.  Once the onions are cooked down a bit you're supposed to add the flour and then a minute later you start adding the clam juice.  This is immediately followed by the potatoes, which I didn't have chopped up.  So I had to act quickly.

I whisked in the flour and then my clam juice while I turned up the music, this day it was T-Rex's I Love to Boogie, and let the beat push me through chopping up four potatoes super-duper fast. (Please try to avoid chopping up fingers at this point.  Safety first, even if you are lost in the pulse of the music and the fear of failure because you didn't read ahead.)  Now add those potatoes and let them cook until soft.  Breathe.  You're caught up again.  For two seconds. Unless you forgot to add your Thyme!

Whew, okay it's been about 10 minutes.  You will be able to tell when the potatoes are ready, because they will soften.  I was able to cut mine with the whisk I was using.  Once they are ready you're going to add your clams, cream, and seasonings.  I didn't have parsley so I just tossed in a tiny bit of salt and some crushed black pepper. (Yum, I love pepper)  Now stir that in well and let the pot simmer, but not boil.  That looks so delicious I could almost stick my face into it right now.  (Please don't do this, it will burn.  Trust me.)

Once it begins to simmer you remove it from the heat and serve immediately.  I actually waited about ten minutes or so, because Shorty was making some super yummy cheese sticks to accompany the dish.  You know, I always thought clam chowdah, chowder, was going to be more difficult, but this was wicked simple and, surprisingly, ready in less than a half hour.  This would be a great dish for an inexperienced cook or for an unexpected dinner party, because it's so easy to make if you have the ingredients.  Plus it's wicked delicious!!!

Oh and just so you know, this reheated wonderfully.  I had it in the fridge for several days in a Tupperware container just tossed it in a small pot on the stove to heat it back up.  The book said the clams would toughen up, but I found they still had a nice texture and taste.  In all this was a delicious soup that provided more than one meal.  So if you're single or have a small family, you might consider making this as a "multi-meal" dish that serves as dinner one evening and as lunch for a few days.  

(For those non-New Englanders, wicked it a adjective used to express a great like of something.  It's similar to great, good, or cool, but more extreme.)

New England Clam Chowder

4         cans (6.5 ounces) minced clams, juice drained
           & reserved, along with 1 cup water &
           2 bottles (8 ounce) clam juice
4         slices (about 4 ounces) thick-cut bacon,
           cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1         large Spanish onion, chopped medium
2         tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2   pounds red potatoes (about 3 medium),
           scrubbed & cut into 1/2-inch dice
1         large bay leaf
1         teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves or
                                                    1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
                                         1         cup heavy cream
                                         2         tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
                                                    Salt and ground black or white pepper

• Fry the bacon in an empty stockpot, or Dutch oven, over medium-low heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the flour and stir until lightly colored, about 1 minute.
• Gradually whisk in the reserved clam broth.
• Add the potatoes, bay leaf (which I left out), and thyme and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the reserved minced clams, the creams, parsley (left that out too), and salt (if necessary) and pepper to taste
• Bring to a simmer, but do not boil.
• Remove the pan from the heat, discard the bay leaf, and serve immediately.