Thursday, April 25, 2013

Recipe: New England Clam Chowder


Mike loves clam chowder. Me, not so much. The last time that I had chowder, I ended up getting food poisoning and never touched it since...until last night.
Because of a rough month for the two of us, I decided to make him some chowder. Now, living where we do, getting fresh anything is tricky! Thankfully, this recipe required the canned clams and bottled juice, so I figured that it was worth trying out. If I didn't like it, I could just have salad.

I wrote out the shopping list and Mike went with me. We spent about 5 minutes in the spice isle looking for Marjoram, and finally we found it fresh with the rest of the fresh stuff. That stuff is powerful to the senses! I started to cut it up and my nasal passages were opened!

Mike really liked this meal. He said that there was too much marjoram, but I think he was chewing some of the fresh leaves, giving him that overpowering flavor.

The recipe took no time at all to make, but I do have to warn you, that the toughest part is getting it to boil so the potatoes cook. I say that because it is dairy based and if you have milk boil, it can burn and you're going to taste it! Just make sure that you stir a lot as you're cooking!

Ingredients:

1 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh marjoram, divided
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups half and half (I only grabbed a pint, so I used 1 cup milk to make up the difference)
2 bottles (8oz each) clam juice
4 cups red skinned potatoes, diced
4 cans (6.5oz) minced clams
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and 1 tablespoon marjoram in butter in large pot over high heat until softened (3-5 minutes). Stir in flour and cook 2-3 minutes.
Whisk half and half and clam juice into flour mixture.
Add potatoes and clams. Bring chowder to boil over high heat; reduce heat and bring to a low boil. Cook chowder until potatoes are tender about 20 minutes.
Stir in remaining marjoram and season with salt and pepper.

Notes*: With the clams, add everything in the can, including the juice.
Stir the chowder as you are trying to get it to boil, and continue stirring so it doesn't burn!

Serve with crackers, Tabasco or lemon wedges! Enjoy!

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