New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder

Thank you Mon Oncle (My Uncle) Jean for Inspiration on your award winning clam chowder recipe! This recipe reminds me of being a young boy in his famous French restaurant on Cape Cod – it was amazing, creamy and packed with great flavour and great ingredients!

The Recipe!

~ 4 cups of chicken broth ( I make mine with chicken base so that it’s nice and tasty! )
~ 2.5 lbs of red bliss potatoes, cut into cubes. Don’t peel them!!
~ 1 LB of natural (no nitrates/nitrites) bacon
~ 2 LBS of DICED spanish or sweet onion
~ 2 Sticks of butter
~ 3 cups of heavy cream
~ 1 1/4 lbs of mushrooms (cut them in two and no smaller so that they have a visual presence)
~ 2 bottles of clam juice – 8 oz bottle (I used lobster juice for a variation)
~ 6 cans of clams (6.5 oz) I used a combination of chopped and whole

New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder

La Methode!

Cook 1/2 of the cubed potatoes in the 4 cups of chicken stock in a medium to large COVERED pot until the potatoes are tender on a low simmer.

~ Meanwhile cook the bacon in a large (7 quart) dutch oven.

~ When the bacon is cooked, remove from it from the pan and chop it into medium to small pieces.

~ Sauté the chopped onion on a low to medium heat in the bacon fat until it is a light golden brown. Remove from fire as the diced potatoes finish cooking.

~ When the potatoes cooking in the chicken stock are tender, remove from the heat, add one bottle of clam juice and puree using a stick / immersion blender.  Add another bottle of clam juice if it is to dry to blend.

~ Add pureed potatoes to the large dutch oven containing the sautéed onion as well as 3 cups of heavy cream, the remainder of the bottled clam juice, the remainder of cubed potatoes, chopped bacon, 2 sticks of butter, mushrooms, and the juice from the canned clams (reserve the clams for the last step).

~ Cover and cook on a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender (about 45 minutes)

~ Add the clams and cook another 10 minutes.

Voila!! Now enjoy the most flavorful chowder that I know of, and an old family recipe!! Serve with a nice crusty, buttered French bread.
Freeze leftover for another day when you don’t have time for cooking!!