New England Clam Chowder with Sourdough Croutons
As we move toward spring in Colorado, our snow days start to increase (March and April are the snowiest months in our great state.) Soup is the perfect meal for a cold snowy day, couple that with it being Friday and Lent (no meat for us Catholics on Fridays), I thought I’d share my favorite New England Clam Chowder recipe paired with homemade croutons (also a favorite recipe of mine!)
I may have mentioned it before, but I like to collect recipes, many of which come from the food network. This chowder recipe is courtesy of Dave Lieberman. It yields six to eight servings.
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Medium onion, finely diced
2 Celery stalks (reserve tender leaves) trimmed, quartered lengthwise, then sliced into ¼ inch pieces
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 (10-ounce) Cans chopped clams in juice
1 Cup heavy cream
2 Bay leaves
1 lb. Idaho potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and celery and sauté until softened, mixing often. Stir in the flour to distribute evenly. Add the stock, juice from two cans of chopped clams (reserve clams), cream, bay leaves, and potatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring consistently (the mixture will thicken), then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often until the potatoes are nice and tender. Next add the clams and season to taste with pepper. The clams are already salty so if you opt to add salt do it sparingly. Cook until clams are just firm, another two minutes.
Lieberman also included a crouton recipe, but I prepare my Sour Dough Crouton recipe courtesy of Rachel Ray! This recipe yield four servings and is my go-to crouton recipe for Caesar salads as well. It is especially good when you make the sour dough bread yourself!
Ingredients
2 Cloves garlic, crushed (I’ve also used minced garlic)
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Cups cubed sourdough bread (see an earlier post on how to make sour dough bread from scratch)
1 Teaspoon coarse black pepper
½ Cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 ½ teaspoons of dried thyme
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Heat garlic and oil over low heat and melt butter into the oil. Place the bread in a large bowl and toss with garlic oil and butter. Season with pepper, Parmesan, and thyme. Spread croutons evenly on a baking sheet and back until crisp and golden, about 15 – 20 minutes depending on your desired level of crunch. Remove croutons from oven and let cool. Once cooled, you are ready to serve up the soup with a generous handful of these tasty croutons.
Bon Appetit!
