New England Clam and Corn Chowder

I stole this recipe from - http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/fasteasyfresh/2009/01/new_england_clam_and_corn_chowder. I had this craving for a creamy soup after Christmas - and the photo looked so good - and I got to use my brand new pot!

I didn't change very much, left out the rosemary and added the clams and corn at the very end, because they get tough if cooked. I have rosemary now (2016) but of course I also add thyme ... I couldn't find any good parsley, so I did without that as well. I wouldn't add salt til the end, as I do with all soups - it's really hard to fish out extra salt, and very easy to add more. It tastes exactly as I had planned ...

• 6 thick bacon slices, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled, chopped
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 8-ounce unpeeled white-skinned potato (I used little red ones - they looked nicer), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 6 1/2-ounce cans chopped clams in juice
• 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained
• Chopped fresh parsley

• Cook bacon in large saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
• Pour out all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pan.
• Add next 3 ingredients to pan; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Sauté until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle flour over; stir 1 to 2 minutes.
• Gradually add milk to pan, stirring constantly.
• Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
• Add potatoes and clam juice. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
• Add clams and corn. Sprinkle with parsley.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• You can sprinkle the bacon bits over the top if you like.

Clam Chowder

I was tempted to title this Manhattan Clam Chowder ... but I don't make any other kind - let those cream and milk people call theirs "New England" and I won't need a modifier.

Clam chowder reminds me of the Forth of July in the Hamptons - the parade in Southampton - digging for clams on the beach - steamers with lots of butter - the North Sea Volunteer Fire Department's clam bake - tripping over people sleeping everywhere - and parents who thought blaring the radio at 5:30 am to wake them up was amusing - all sorts of memories distilled into one bowl of chowder ...

Of course, this isn't the same chowder - the clams are canned - and the beach is far away ... but it comes close enough. It can and has been modified in many ways - with crab meat, fish of various sorts - green pepper sometimes appears and sometimes doesn't .. but this is just basic clam chowder - the best kind ...

3 cans of minced or chopped clams

1 bottle of clam juice

2 carrots

3 or 4 strips of bacon

2 potatoes - white potatoes or red

3 celery stalks

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 large can crushed tomatoes

Parsley

Pepper

Thyme

Cook bacon slowly in a heavy pot, until it is crispy.

Remove bacon and add chopped onion, celery, garlic, carrots and cook until the onions are wilted.

Add the tomatoes and clam juice and drained liquid from the canned clams and bring to a boil. Add the chopped, peeled potatoes, pepper (quite a bit) and the nothing-gets-cooked-without-it Thyme!

Notice there is NO salt - the clam juice and clams are salty enough. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked - 30 to 45 minutes.

Add the clams and some chopped parsley and warm it up - it shouldn't really boil - as the clams just need to be warmed or they will get too rubbery.

You can sprinkle some bacon over the top - I don't like it in the chowder because it gets all soft - but you can dump it in if you like ...

It's quite simple really - and it freezes very well.

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Meatball Soup

Meatballs (from 0.5 lbs. Ground beef)

Garbanzo Beans -1 can

Beef Broth - 2 cans

Spinach - 3 cups

Stewed Tomatoes - 1 can

Teeny tiny pasta - about 1/4 - 3/4 cups

Water - 1.5 cups


This is really simple to make – especially if you’ve got leftover meatballs. You can cut them into smaller sizes, but if you are starting from scratch, then make teeny soup sized meatballs.

Drain the beans and rinse them off under cold water.

Put the beans, broth, water, and tomatoes in a pot and when it's boiling add the pasta and boil for about 8 minutes, or until whenever the pasta is done. You might want to chop up the tomatoes a bit – in most recipes they are cooked long enough to fall apart, but since this is so quick – they tend to stay whole.

While the stuff is cooking – tear up the spinach into small pieces.

When the pasta is done, throw in the spinach and meatballs and heat for 1 or 2 minutes, until the spinach just wilts.

And you are done! That was almost too easy …

But it goes well with Sourdough bread, which is not easy.


Update: Using frozen meatballs is ok, not the best - but ok, if you are being lazy! Also - if you are making the soup for only one person - you might want to cook the pasta separately and add a bit each time you serve it - otherwise the pasta soaks up the broth and you'll have to add more broth - and by the way, don't use frozen spinach, it's too cooked for this ...