Christmas Eve Clam Chowder

Market Street Clam Chowder

For as long as I can remember my family ate clam chowder with cheese and crackers on Christmas Eve. Sometimes my mom would try a new recipe, but usually we had the Campbells chunky soup variety. 

After Dad and I got married we followed my family's pattern: mostly Campbells with an occasional new recipe. Then a few years after we moved to Taylorsville a chef from the Market Street Grill came to a night time Relief Society meeting and taught us about food safety. He also gave us the recipe for Market Street Clam Chowder. This has been our Christmas Eve dinner ever since.

I do make a couple of changes to this recipe. Primarily I add more potatoes. I like a lot of potatoes in clam chowder, so I put in at least 2 cups of potatoes and sometimes even a little more. For the clam juice I use an 8 oz bottle. For the clams I use 2 cans (6.5 oz size) of chopped or diced clams.

1 cup flour
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped clams
3/4 cup  Clam Juice
2 quarts half & half
1 cup diced potatoes
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced green pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp Salt
3/4 Tbsp ground black pepper
3/4 Tbsp thyme
6 bay leaves
1 tsp tabasco (or tapatio)
2 cups water

Combine melted butter and flour in oven-proof container and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. In large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients except half-and-half. Simmer until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Stir butter-flour mixture into chowder and stir until thick. Mixture will be slightly less thick than cookie dough. Remove chowder from heat. Stir in half-and-half until blended. Heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally.