Awesome Clam Chowder

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 4 (6 1/2 ounce) cans clams, drained and liquid reserved (i used a mix of minced and whole baby clams)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or any light tasting oil)
• 2 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
• 1 1/2 cups minced onions
• 1 1/2 cups diced celery
• 3 cups cubed potatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn or 1 cup fresh corn
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups half-and-half cream
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 (4 ounce) can baby shrimp, drained
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, i know it sounds weird but it really adds a spark
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt, i like use sea salt
• ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 sauté celery, onions, and carrots (if using fresh corn add it now) and in oil in a large skillet until softened.
• 2 add potatoes, frozen corn, bottles of clam juice, plus enough drained liquid from canned clams to cover vegetables*, and cook over medium heat until tender. *if not enough liquid add only enough water until vegetables are covered.
• 3 after about 10 - 15 minutes, when vegetables are almost tender, melt the butter in a large heavy soup pot over medium heat.
• 4 whisk flour into melted butter until smooth and fully cooked.
• 5 whisk in half & half and chicken stock, stir constantly until thick and smooth.
• 6 stir in vegetables, cooking liquid, and season with salt and pepper. heat through, but do not boil.
• 7 stir in clams and shrimp – if they cook too much they get tough - do not allow it to boil. when clams are heated through, stir in vinegar.
• 8 at this point i took it off the heat and let it cool down enough to put into the fridge covered as i was serving it the next day.
• 9 a couple of hours before serving i just put it into the crock from one of my slow cookers, put the lid on, then put it into the microwave at 10 minutes at 50% power to get it started and then into the slow cooker on slow.