Clam Chowder!

Tonight I made Ina Garten's East Hampton Clam Chowder (finally!) thanks to fresh shucked clams from McCaffrey's (what can I say, I had no intention of doing my own shucking). You can find the recipe on page 28 of Ina's cookbook "Barefoot Contessa Family Style". Ina has you sauteeing mire poix in butter, together with a bit of salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh thyme. I added in leeks with the celery, carrots and potato chunks. I also used red potatoes, butter potatoes and white potatoes. Once your vegetables cook for a bit and start to get soft you add in four cups of clam juice. (Nothing like peanut butter, dry white toast and clam juice!) Bring your mixture to a boil and let your veggies get soft. Next, Ina has you melting additional butter and mixing in flour and then adding that to your soup-- I diverged, and instead added a bit of cream and two bay leaves, a dash of cayenne pepper and some garlic salt. Once the potatoes were tender and the broth had thickened a bit (with the help of a touch of corn starch...) I was ready to add in my fresh clams (with their juices). With the soup on medium-low heat, add in the clams and only cook for a short time as the longer they're in the tougher they can get. Once the clams changed color, we were ready to serve and thanks to the Husband bringing home oyster crackers we were ready to eat!!!

The soup was really great-- and the clams really fresh! Yay to Ina (with a few seasoning additions of our own!) ;)