Clam Chowder

I don't like fish. As a kid, I would have said I hated it. I still mostly prefer fish sticks over anything else. I've expanded my fish eating tendencies, but just a bit. I would probably die in Poland at Christmas time (not really, but I'd definitely not enjoy the food.) Other than fish sticks, and sometimes certain salmon dishes, I only like clam chowder. My parents would take us to this fancy (not really, but we thought so as kids) restaurant and they'd order fish and us kids would get clam chowder. I loved it. I still love it. I don't really love the chewy rubberness of the clams, but I try not to think about that.

The following is a combo of my mom's Aunt Thurma* and my brother-in-law's yummy clam chowder recipes:


Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup onion, finely chopped

1 cup celery, finely diced

2 cups potatoes, finely diced

1 cup carrots, finely diced

2 cans (6.5 oz. each) clams, undrained

¾ cup butter

¾ cup flour

1 quart half and half

**1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Directions:

Combine vegetables in small saucepan. Drain clams; pour juice over veggies; add enough water to barely cover. Cook, covered until tender – about 15 minutes. In meantime, melt butter in large heavy saucepan. Stir in flour until blended and bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in cream until smooth and blended. Return to heat; cook and stir with wire whisk until thick and smooth. Add undrained veggies and clams; heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

*My only memory of my Great Aunt Thurma is when she visited my house when I was 6 or 7, right before my grandma and grandpa died and she would read and read all of my Care Bear books to me.

**Because my mom is pretty sure my great aunt used more heavy whipping cream in her recipe than my brother-in-law does. It was the olden days, people were less health conscious.