New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients

• 1 kg clams, scrubbed
• 4 dl fish stock
• 2 bay leaf
• 120 g bacon, cut into small dice
• 30 g butter
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 celery stalk, finely diced
• 30 g wheat flour
• 600 g potato, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm dice
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 4 dl milk
• 2 dl heavy cream
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• salt to taste

Method

1. 1.

   Steam the clams open — Put the clams in a large heavy pot with the fish stock and bay leaves, cover and steam over high heat for 5-6 minutes, until they gape open. Strain the liquor through a fine sieve and keep it, discard any clam that stayed shut, and pick the meat out of the shells.

2. 2.

   Render the bacon — Wipe out the pot, add the diced bacon and cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes, until it is crisp and the fat has run. Lift the bacon out with a slotted spoon and leave the fat behind.

3. 3.

   Sweat the vegetables and flour — Melt the butter into the bacon fat, add the onion and celery and sweat for 7-8 minutes over medium-low heat, until soft and translucent but with no colour. Stir in the flour and cook it out for 2 minutes.

4. 4.

   Simmer the potatoes — Whisk in the reserved clam liquor a ladle at a time until smooth, add the diced potato and the thyme, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potato is tender at the point of a knife but still holding its edges.

5. 5.

   Enrich with milk and cream — Pour in the milk and cream and bring the chowder back to a bare steam over low heat for 5 minutes, never letting it boil. Crush a few potato cubes against the side of the pot to thicken the broth naturally.

6. 6.

   Return the clams and serve — Stir in the clam meat and most of the bacon and give it just a minute to heat through, or the clams will turn rubbery. Season with black pepper and salt to taste, then serve scattered with parsley and the last of the bacon.