Happy New Year - Soup’s On!

Sunday, December 30, 2007, by Leigh Anne

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I hope you are all enjoying lots of fun “family and friend” time during the holidays. One of the perks of a direct sales business is the built in vacation you get during the holidays. No one is interested in doing a home event, your customer wish lists have been filled and your team members are busy enjoying the holidays too - so take advantage of the down time! I know I am.

With the two sweet college boys home I have been making a lot of trips to the grocery store and doing lots of cooking! We have had a lot of sports watching at our house (including a “boys” night out to the Blazer Game), lots of movie watching (a Bourne Ultimatum marathon), game playing (Qwerkle and Blokus are the two favorites), an overnight trip to our beach house in Manzanita, and a walk down Peacock Lane. I even enjoyed 4 hours laying on my bed watching the BBC mini-series “Wives and Daughters”. If you love Pride and Prejudice like I do, you’ll love this one too. We are now gearing up for New Year’s Eve.

Each New Year’s Eve we host a “Soup’s On” party. We invite couples from church, I put on 3 big pots of homemade soup, cook up a few appetizers and dessert (I’ll share this recipe later), everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to share and we enjoy visiting, playing games and ringing in the new year! And we always have way too much food!

Each year I make the same 3 soups because they are so popular. I have shared two of the recipes in previous posts - Elephant’s Delicatessan Soup and Sausage and Tortellini Soup. The third soup I always make is clam chowder. Now, I don’t even like clam chowder so I have to rely on other’s opinions on this one but I have had numerous people tell me this is the BEST clam chowder they have ever tasted and when you live in the Northwest you tend to know clam chowder! This recipe comes from my favorite cookbook - Portland Junior League Portland’s Palate. I think the thing that makes this chowder so good is the secret ingredient - pepper bacon - it has to be pepper bacon !

River City (that’s Portland) Clam Chowder or better known around here as The BEST Clam Chowder

I always double the recipe for our party.

8 slices pepper bacon, diced (I use a whole pound)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 cup celery (2 large stalks), chopped

1/2 cup flour

4 (6 oz.) cans chopped clams or 2 cups fresh clams, shucked. (I use the canned clams from Costco)

3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 cups milk (I use whole milk - don’t cut calories here!)

1/2 cup half and half

salt and white pepper (I have used black pepper also, just effects the color of the soup)

In a large pot over medium high heat, cook bacon until browned. Drain grease. Add butter, onions and celery to pot and cook over medium heat until softened and onions are translucent. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stir constantly.

Drain clams and reserve liquid in a 1 pint measuring cup. Add enough water to clam liquid to equal 2 cups.

Add this liquid slowly to mixture in pot, stirring constantly. Add potatoes and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add clams, milk and half and half. Heat until thickened, being careful not to boil or burn. Add salt and pepper and serve. (I usually make the day ahead and refrigerate, it gets a little thicker this way)

Happy New Years!

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Categories: Nourish, Recipes