Clam Chowder

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped, chopped
• 4 ounce bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 16 ounce milk
• 12 ounce water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cup peeled and diced potatoes
• 2 6½ oz cans of chopped clams, liquid and clams separated Review
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch + water to make slurry
• few sprigs of chopped fresh parsley, and more to garnish, if desired
• 6 small bread bowls

Directions

1. Put the olive oil and onion in a large pot over medium heat and saute for 5 minutes. Add the bacon and cook for another few minutes, then remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add the butter to the pot, and when melted, add the flour and mix well. Cook for about 4 minutes over medium high heat, then slowly begin adding the milk while whisking. If you find you have lumps, just use a stick blender to fix the problem.
3. Next, add the water, salt, and the liquid from the cans of clams. Taste for salt, adding more if needed, then put the bacon / onion mixture and potatoes into the soup. Simmer over low heat, stirring often and scraping the bottom to make sure it doesn’t stick.
4. When the potatoes are ready (after about 10 minutes), use a stick blender to partially blend the soup.
5. Add the corn starch slurry, clams, and parsley and cook for 3 minutes or so.
6. Taste for salt again and add some freshly ground pepper and remove from heat. When ready to serve, cut the top off of the sourdough boules, remove some of the inside to form a bowl, and ladle hot chowder into the bread bowl. Garnish with more parsley if desired.