Tasty Morsels 

6 TB butter, divided
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks (I don’t like cooked celery so I omitted it), diced
3 carrots, diced
4 potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of kosher salt / pepper
2 cups clam juice
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1.5 cups chopped fresh clams

Melt 2TB butter in a stockpot. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add (celery), carrot, potatoes, thyme, salt/pepper and sautee for 10 minutes. Add clam juice, bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until veggies are tender.

In a saucepot, melt remaining (4TB) butter, and whisk in flour. This is your roux. Cook very low, for 3 minutes, stirring. Whisk in 1 cup of hot broth and pour back into stockpot. Simmer until thick. Add milk and clams, heat gently for a few minutes.

Adapted from: With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

Okay, so this isn’t my favorite clam chowder recipe ever (I’m pretty picky when it comes to this stuff) but it’s very easy and still makes a good meal.

I would recommend the freshest clams possible. We’re talking, they’re basically-crawling-away fresh.

I also admit that I had to change the recipe again. Not only do I really not like cooked celery… ugh… mushy… but I couldn’t manage to shuck my wonderful little clams. So what I did is cook them beforehand in some dry white wine and minced garlic. That opened them up and made my apartment smell wonderful. When it came down to adding them back into the chowder, I chopped them up and then added them back in. I think the wine added a little to the chowder too.

I should have gotten some good crusty bread with this too.