Clam Chowder

Ingredients

• 400g cooked clam meat coarsely chopped
• 4 rashers bacon finely chopped
• 1 brown onion finely diced
• 2 carrots finely diced
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 500ml chicken stock
• 250ml dry white wine
• 300ml cream
• Handful of Italian parsley roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Method

• In a heavy based pan, fry the chopped bacon in a little olive oil until it is just starting to crisp and the bacon fat has all rendered out.
• Remove with a slotted spoon leaving rendered bacon fat in the pan.
• Add the onion and carrot and gently sautée stirring occasionally until starting to soften about 10 minutes.
• Add the garlic and gently fry for about 1 minute
• Add the diced potato, wine and enough stock to ensure the vegetables are totally covered by liquid.
• Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are starting to break up.
• Stir everything vigorously to break up a lot of the potato – (you are looking for a slightly chunky potato soup type consistency). A potato masher also works well. It is ok if the carrot doesn’t break up as easily as the potato.
• Add all the clam meat and most of the bacon leaving some for the final garnish
• Add the cream and bring everything back to a simmer.
• Stir through the chopped parsley
• Adjust seasoning

Serve in bowls with chunks of crispy bread

Nice! and Tasty – Chris