Winter is coming, even if Texas doesn’t know it yet. Enjoy this soup in the meantime! 

Winter is just around the corner, and that means we’re craving soup. This week we’re looking at a classic recipe for New England-style clam chowder. A rich and creamy soup that will not only fill you up but will also give you plenty of leftovers to enjoy later. 

Ingredients

3 strips Thick-Cut Bacon

4 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1  Large Onion (cut into 1/4-inch cubes)

1 rib Celery (cut into 1/4-inch cubes)

1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme Leaves (chopped)

2  Bay Leaves

2  Medium-Size White Potatoes (peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes)

½ cup All-Purpose Flour

4 cups Bottled Clam Juice (divided)

1 pound Fresh Clam Meat (chopped, with juices, see Note)

Kosher Salt

3 cups Light Cream

1 teaspoon White Pepper

A quick note on finding clam meat and clam juice. It’s hard to get hold of fresh clams. Instead, check out the frozen section of your supermarket. Many of them carry 1 pound containers, which are fresher, have the clams and the juice, and taste far better than canned. Defrost before you use it and it’s not only tastier but more convenient as well. 

Take your onion, celery, and potatoes, and get them ready. For the onion and celery that’s going to be cutting them up into ¼ inch cubes. For the potatoes, you’ll want to peel them for now and set them aside. 

Set your 4-6 quart pot on the stove over medium-low heat. Add your bacon to the pot and cook until crips, 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove the bacon, leave the fat in the pot, and set the bacon to the side to cool. 

While that’s cooling, add your butter, onion, celery, thyme, and bay leaves to the pot. Cook at the same heat and stir often. In between the stirring, turn back to your bacon and crumble it into small pieces.  When the onions are translucent, add the bacon back to the pot and stir to mix. 

Turn the heat down to low and let it simmer.  In the meantime,  grab your second pot, fill it with 2–3 quarts of water and set it to high heat. Add in salt, and bring the pot to a boil. Dice your potatoes, and add them to the boiling water. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until you can easily pierce them with a fork. Drain the potatoes in a colander and set them aside. 

Now, let’s turn back to your onion and bacon mix and turn the heat up a bit to medium-low. Slowly add your flour, stirring constantly, until a thick paste forms. This is a roux, of a type. Stir slowly and cook for 5 minutes until it becomes golden brown. You’re looking to cook out the ‘raw’ flavor of the flour. 

After five minutes, bring the heat up to medium and slowly stir in the bottled clam juice, one cup at a time, fully incorporating it into the roux before you add more. 

Turn the heat up further to medium-high and add your potatoes and the clam meat with its juices. Keep stirring for 5 minutes until the clams are tender. 

Stir in your cream slowly, and then top with white pepper and stir it in. 

Remove the bay leaves before serving, and dish it up with your choice of grain. We like serving it with pita bread or a crusty slice of bread, while many enjoy oyster crackers. 

What do you think? Are you willing to give this tasty soup a try as winter comes? Or will you hold out until the cold has actually set in, come February hopefully? Let us know what you think of the recipe, or your own favorite version of New England clam chowder in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 

If you’re here because you’re worried about Winter being just around the corner, you’re not the only one. Whether you’re looking at issues with your washer and dryer or you want to make sure your oven and stove are up to snuff before Christmas, we can help. In addition to repairing appliances, we at Appliance Rescue also offer maintenance checks. Whether you’re worried about just one appliance or about all of them, we’ll walk through with you. We’ll look at all of the appliances you request and see what is or isn’t happening. Whether it’s making sounds, smells odd or you’d just rather be safe than sorry, we understand. We’ll go over all of the possible issues and make sure that your appliances are good to go.

You can reach out to us to set up a maintenance check on our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We’ll work with you to set a time and date that works best for your schedule. From there we’ll send one of our expert technicians to go over your chosen appliances. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again.