I absolutely adore a good chowder. Here’s another from the files.
Ingredients
1 – 2 dozen fresh quahog or cherrystone clams (can substitute a can of chopped clams if you don’t have enough fresh clams).
1 bottle chardonnay wine
5 or 6 medium red-skin potatoes, quartered.
2 ears corn on the cob
½ pound of medium shrimp, cooked, shells removed, and cut into bite sized pieces.
1 small can mushroom pieces and stems OR 1 8 oz package of mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion
pepper to taste (I go heavy on the pepper).
¾ soup bowl of milk
3 – 4 tablespoons of flour
Instructions
First, make clam broth. Once you have made the clam broth, then make the chowder.
Clam broth:
Pour wine into bottom of steamer pot.
In steamer basket, place clams, potatoes, corn.
Steam until clams open and potatoes and corn are done. Pour yourself a nice cup of clam broth to drink, leave the rest in the steamer pot for the chowder.
Cut corn off of cob. Remove clams from shells, cut clams in half.
Put shells in the garden to look pretty.
Chowder.
Add corn, potatoes, clams, and shrimp to broth. Simmer on low.
Chop the onion into small pieces, sauté in butter and add onion and butter to chowder. If using fresh mushrooms, sauté them with the onion.
Add flour to milk, pour into chowder. Nuke with pepper.
Simmer until its soup, adding more flour to thicken if needed.
December 10, 2005