New England Clam Chowder

I’m a soup girl.  I don’t know if I’ve ever met a soup that I didn’t like.  Canned, homemade, it doesn’t matter.  I really enjoy soup during the chilly winter months, but I don’t discriminate during the summer.  Soup is filling, warming, and delicious.  It really makes the perfect meal.

I have to tell you, I really like creamy soups.  They are by far the least healthy kind, but some of the tastiest.  I would pick New England clam chowder over Manhattan any day.  Cream of crab over Maryland crab.  Cream of Tomato over regular tomato…you get where I’m going.

makes 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into a 1/2 inch dice
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 cans of diced clams, with juice
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 4 cups seafood (or vegetable) stock
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Put peeled and chopped potatoes into a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 6 minutes, stirring half way through.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in a stock pot.  Add microwaved potatoes and onion.  Season with salt and pepper.  Saute for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add thyme sprigs and stir.  You can remove the leaves from the stems, but they will fall off during cooking and you can remove the sprigs later.
4. Add the canned clams and their juice, the bottled clam juice and the seafood (or vegetable) stock to the pot.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer soup for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
5. In a small bowl, combine the milk and flour.  Mix well.  Add milk mixture to the soup, and stir well.
6. Turn off heat and add cream.  Stir well and serve!

Clearly, this was terrible.