Clam Chowder
- 6 ounces thick sliced bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 6 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 small ears corn, kernels removed (or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn)
- 16 ounces cooked clam meat in juices, roughly chopped
- 1 dozen cherry stone clams, scrubbed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
Set a large soup pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until bacon is crisp and fat rendered. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat. Remove cooked bacon from pot and set aside. Add onions to pot and cook, stirring, until onions become soft and translucent and take on a bit of golden color, a few minutes. Add garlic and celery and cook a minute or two more. Add potatoes to pot and 4 cups cold water. Season lightly with salt and pepper and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes depending on size of potatoes. Stir in corn and chopped clams. Cook a minute or two. Add cherry stone clams, cover pot and cook until clams open, about 10 more minutes. Stir in cream and milk. Cook until piping hot but do not allow to boil. Return cooked bacon to pot and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper just before serving.
Homemade Oyster Crackers
For the crafter in all of us.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon celery salt, plus more for sprinkling
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and celery salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse together quickly, just to aerate and combine. Cut in butter - forming a nice coarse meal. Add milk and process together so to create a soft dough. Transfer dough to a clean, lightly floured, work surface and let rest (covered with a damp paper towel) about 20 minutes.
Heat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and have at the ready. Roll out dough so to be about 1/4 inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut out hexagonal shapes, each about the size of a quarter. Pierce the center of each hexagon and transfer to a baking sheet. Season crackers with a nice sprinkling of kosher and celery salt.
Transfer to oven and bake until firm and just starting to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Eat by the handful.