It’s Election Day 2020. I’m holding my breath. I’m pacing. It’s like there is an imaginary weighted blanket on me. I need a project, something to occupy my day. I start watching “The Purge” then immediately decide that’s a bad idea.

I need to cook. Today, I need the warmth, the comfort of a creamy hot soup. It’s comforting being in a kitchen when it’s alive. I also need some happiness in my belly, a comfort food. Something special.

Then it occurred to me, clam chowder.

When I was younger my mom worked half the year for a company in Monterey California. We’d go there for the summers and spend a few weeks with my brother and his wife. I remember one particular trip with my mom to Monterey. We went to the fisherman’s warf, we sat along the pier and had Clam chowder in these giant sourdough bread bowls. I remember the perfect weather and the sun warming our faces as we ate. It was heaven. My mom still talks about this clam chowder all these years later.

The next time I had a great and memorable clam chowder, my husband and I were in Seattle. We shared a bowl in the rain from a tiny place in an alley near the pikes place fish market. This rich creamy stew has always had a special place in my heart. It’s like a hug in a bowl. I’m not sure if it’s because tensions are high or because we really needed this clam chowder today, but we decided it’s in the top 10 meals I’ve ever cooked.
For this recipe, I winged it. Try it for yourself. I invite you.

Ingredients:

1 leek

1 whole yellow onion

2 cans chopped clams

3 bottles of clam juice

2 cans whole clams

4 organic potatoes

1 tablespoon of thyme

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

1/2 pack bacon

1/2 stick of butter

4 tablespoons of flour

Salt and pepper to taste

3 celery stalks

2 green onions (for garnish)

Cholula hot sauce ( at the end)

Small sourdough boules

Or sour dough bread slices

Chop 1/2 packet of bacon into small pieces into a pot. ( I use kitchen scissors and chop it into 1/2 inch pieces) let bacon cook/ brown. Add 1 whole chopped onion, add 3 celery sticks, chopped tiny. Add 1/4 leek, chopped, chop and add 4 potatoes with the skin. Sautée ingredients together in 1/4 stick of butter until everything is softened/ browned.
Add 3 bottles of clam juice and bring to a boil.
Drain all juice from cans of clams into the pot and leave the clams aside until the end. ( you don’t want to over cook these, they’ll become chewy)
Lower boil to slow simmer and mix in about 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
In a Pan, you’re going to make a rue for thickening the chowder. (Don’t be intimidated). Begin by adding a tablespoon of butter and a ladle full of the chowder broth. Slowly add 4 tablespoons of flour and broth until you have a thick pudding like consistency.
Mix rue into stew and stir, add canned clams last. Cook slowly, about 10 mins. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Let the stew sit for 10 mins, serve with organic sourdough, top with Chopped green onions and cholula.
Serve in mini sourdough boule or along with buttered sourdough. Bon appetite.