Soup again-Market Street Clam Chowder

Well my mouth still hurts and today its raining.  It's the first real fall rain we've received.  The boys went down to the BYU game and I know they will come home cold and wet. 
I remember going to Market Street Grill on a cold rainy day a year or so ago.  My favorite thing to order is the clam chowder, so I decided to make it for everyone tonight.

I originally got the recipe from my sister Rebecca when she served it at her home.  It was so yummy and
most of the time this has replaced my original recipe for Bratten's clam chowder.


I do have to admit I am still searching for a recipe for clam chowder that tastes like the chowder I had in Seattle when I was there on vacation with my family at about age 10.  I've never found anything to taste like that, but I still remember the distinct taste after all of these years.  It was another cold rainy day (of course)
and we bought it from a small stand right on the pier.


Well here's the market street recipe for now:


Ingredients:


•1 cup of potatoes, diced 1/2 inch
•1 cup of celery, diced 1/2 inch
•1 cup of onions, diced 1/2 inch
•1 cup of green pepper, diced 1/2 inch
•3/4 cup chopped clams (canned or fresh)
•3/4 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
•1 1/2 teaspoon salt
•3/4 tablespoon whole thyme
•6 bay leaves
•1 teaspoon tabasco
•3/4 cup sherry wine (optional)
•2 cups water
•3/4 cup clam juice (drain from can)
•3/4 cup butter, melted
•1 cup flour
•2 quarts half and half


Method:




In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except butter, flour, and half and half. Simmer until potatoes are throughly cooked.


In the meantime, combine melted butter and flour in a baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 30- minutes, (to eliminate raw flour flavor and to stablize chowder) Stif the butter flour mixture, into the chowder and cook, stirring frequently until thick. The mixture should be nearly the consistency of cookie dough.


Remove chowder from heat. Stir in half and half and blend well. Heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally.
Serve!




By the way instead of half and half I used Lactaid whole milk because Chris is lactose intolerant.
I'm sure we missed out on some of the richness and creaminess but it still tasted wonderful!