Lise wrote:
[div style="font-style: italic;"]Good afternoonie all. Boy, isn't it wet out there? Kinda feel like you're swimming in a fish bowl. It's nice to cuddle up in a blanket, hot water in one hand and a book on the other. Hmm... chi.[/div] [div style="font-style: italic;"] [/div] [div style="font-style: italic;"][span style="text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold;"]I'm halfway done with Christmas shopping already!![/span] Yaaay! What a load off. Can't wait to finish up the shopping. Christmas tree is already up and cards are ready to be posted. Santa would be proud of me.[/div] [div style="font-style: italic;"] [/div] [div style="font-style: italic;"]Anyone started their Christmasy stuff yet?[/div]
Hiss hissssss hhhhiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
On the other hand.. made new england clam chowder. HHUUGE pot. Like you say, great night for sitting with a bowl of soup.
New England Chowder. (creamy white shtuff)
You'll need a fry pan and a big soup pot.
pack of bacon
3 cans chopped clams
1 bottle clam juice (should be right next to the canned clams at the store)
1 large white onion
bunch of celery ( I used 5 stalks of it, especially the leafy parts and centre)
10 potatos (thinly diced skin left on)
1 pint heavy cream
2 beers (Kokanee is good with this, but anything will work)
1 bunch fresh marjoram
1 bunch fresh thyme (you can use dried herbs if you want, just use a tablespoon or so of each, I used the dried crap)
Salt and pepper
Cornstarch
1. Fry the bacon in the fry pan. Drain the bacon and set it aside. Save a couple tablespoons of the grease.
2. Chop/dice the onion, and fry it in the saved grease. I used a frying pan for this
3. While this stuff is cooking, chop the celery and potatos. Dice the potatoes fairly small, I leave the skins on. Put in big pot.
4. In the big pot with potato's and celery, add the bottle of clam juice, and the two beers. When onion is translucent, add the whole frying pan into the pot.
5. Open the cans of clams and drain the juice in with the rest of the soup. Don't add the clams yet, set them aside with the bacon. If there still is not enough liquid to completely cover the veggies, then top it off with some water, another beer, or some chicken stock, etc.
6. Add salt and pepper (careful with the salt, as this cooks down it will get more salty). Tie the bunch of thyme and marjoram up with some string and add it to the soup. By cooking it, the leaves will fall off and then you can just pick out the packet of stems later.
7. Bring the soup to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender. About 30 minutes.
8. Pick out the stems. Add the clams, the bacon, and the heavy cream. Adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
9. Mix some cornstarch with some water until it's smooth. There's a lot of soup here and people vary on how thick they like their chowder, I like mine thick and creamy so I use about 5 big spoonfuls of cornstarch. Bring the soup back to a slow boil and then slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry. Seriously, make sure its boiling and add that stuff SLOWLY and mixing constantly, otherwise is glombs into a big ball. Trust me on this. The chowder should thicken almost immediately. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 20-30 minutes.
Make some biscuits. Take some Bisquick baking mix and follow the recipe for 'Drop Biscuits' except add some cheddar cheese to the mix. While they're cooking, melt some butter with some garlic salt or minced garlic. When the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the biscuits with the garlic butter mess....
