Description
This chowder takes less than an hour to make an will feed a crowd of 6 to 8. Serve it with a big green salad and crusty loaf of french bread.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 lb pancetta
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 1 large shallot, peeled and diced
- 2 celery stocks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb baby red potatoes (7-9), chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 pound celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 8 oz bottles clam juice
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 4 cans chopped clams
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven, cook the pancetta over medium heat until nicely browned (approximately 10 mintues). Turn with tongs ever couple of minutes. Remove cooked pancetta from pan and set on paper towel lined plate.
- Add onion, shallot, and celery to pan and cook until soft and translucent (approximately 8 minutes). Add garlic and cook another 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add potatoes and celery root. Cook another 8 minutes stirring often. Then add the flour cook another minute or two stirring until veggies are well coated.
- Add the clam juice, chicken stock and dried herbs. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until veggies are soft (approximately 20 minutes).
- Remove bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to partially blend your soup to the desired consistency. See notes.
- Add the milk and clams and heat through. Chop the cooked pancetta and add to the soup.
- Stir in most of the parsley and chives but set some aside for garnishing individual servings.
Notes
I like to use an immersion blender to partially blend the potato, celery root, and onion mixture. This helps to create a thick and creamy consistency but still preserves plenty of potato chunks.
I put 4 cans of clams in my recipe which is more than most. I like a hearty meaty soup. You can use 2 or 3 can is this sounds like too much. Add them one at a time and see what you think.