New England Clam Chowder

When I was a teenager on the farm I worked at a Gun Club on Sundays setting skeet traps. Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants, using shotguns, attempt to break clay disks mechanically flung into the air from two fixed stations at high speed from a variety of angles. My mother was a weekend cook and one of the women who prepared clam chowder for the competitors, using cans of clams and water…yuck! I detested this version. Later on in life I came to love New England clam chowder. Recently I came across this recipe which turned out very well.

New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 celery stalks (reserve tender leaves) trimmed, quartered lengthwise, then sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 (10-ounce) cans chopped clams in juice
1 cup heavy cream or Media Crema
2 bay leaves
1 pound Idaho potatoes, cut into 1/2- inch cubes I cheated and used canned potatoes chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and saute until softened, mixing often. Stir in the flour to distribute evenly. Add the stock, juice from 2 cans of chopped clams (reserve clams), cream, bay leaves, and potatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring consistently (the mixture will thicken), then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook 20 minutes, stirring often, until the potatoes are nice and tender. Then add clams and season to taste with salt and pepper, cook until clams are just firm, another 2 minutes.

Recipe courtesy Dave Lieberman

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/new-england-clam-chowder-recipe.html?oc=linkback

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Asparagus and Corn Chowder (with chorizo sausage)

Another recipe as a result of a Costco Multi purchase of two packs…this time asparagus! Had to do some searching since I did not want to use potatoes since I had none…LOL

Asparagus and Corn Chowder

Found this recipe in  Pittsburgh Post Gazette dated July 2, 1945….. still works with a couple of modifications for today. Check out my options below the recipe!

 1 pound asparagus ( Cut off tops and set aside; cut remaining stalks into 1 inch pieces)

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cups water

 1 can of creamed corn

1 cup of milk

½ teaspoon sugar

1 small white onion chopped

¼ cup flour

2 Tablespoons melted butter

 

Preparation:

 Simmer asparagus STALKS in medium boiling salted water for 10 minutes.

Add asparagus tops and onion – continue to simmer for 5 minutes.

Add creamed corn, milk and sugar. Stir and reduce heat a bit.

 Mix melted butter with the flour and slowly add to the chowder mix until it begins to thicken.

Serve.

 OPTIONS:

 1.     While the asparagus is simmering away, chop up two chorizo sausages (Johnsonville Italian would also work) into slices and brown in a small frying pan. Add them to the chowder before adding the flour/butter mix.

2.     Consider adding some chopped red pepper when you add the asparagus tops…