Comfort food for cold, rainy days

So yesterday was a pretty cold and rainy day for the first day of spring. No salads for me. Wanted some warm,creamy comfort food. I looked through my party and found a couple of cans of clams and thought clam chowder. My husband favors Manhattan Style which is tomato based, but yesterday, I wanted thick, creamy stuff so went in search of a New England Clam Chowder recipe. Where???? On Pinterest, of course. My new, mostly go to source, for recipe ideas. Word of caution here, I have had a few pinterest fails. A few real, duds, but for the most part, pinterest has been a solid resource. Particularly when I am looking to make a recipe with what I have on hand. Lots of options. So, I found this recipe for New England Clam Chowder. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2015/03/new-england-clam-chowder-recipe/ I made only two changes or you can leave it the same and it would be delicious.

New England Clam Chowder 4 large servings or 6 small servings. *I only used canned clams because that was what I had on hand. I am sure it would be relish with fresh ones, but have never made or prepared fresh clams, but David Leibovitz tells you how to prepare them that way. Just, go to the link. *I used whole milk and a 50/50 mix of cream and fat free half and half to come up with 1 1/2 cups *I added a handful of grated Monterey Jack cheese at the very end *The chowder thickens if you let it cool, then reheat it. It also gives the flavors a chance to meld. *I did not have oyster crackers, but did have unsalted saltines and used those. The clam chowder is salty enough because of the clam juice, so I did not miss the extra salt in the saltines. But it si up to you preference. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups of canned clams. I wish I could tell you how many cans to buy, but I noticed that different labels actually contain varying volumes of clams in the can (i.e. more clam juice vs. clams). So you will have to pick a brand and figure out how many clams are actually in the can!! 1 1/2 cups of clam juice. Save the clam juice from the cans and add enough water to make 1 1/2 cups 2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted ¾ cup diced bacon 1/2 medium onion, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 large potatoes or 2 small potatoes, peeled and diced(into 1/4-inch pieces salt and ground black pepper generous pinch of smoked paprika. I like the Hungarian smoked paprika, but any will do 1 cup (250ml) whole milk, see comments above ½ cup (125ml) heavy cream, see comments above 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated 1. In a soup pot, heat the butter and bacon together over medium heat, for about 3 minutes, until it just starts to curl. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they’re translucent and soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the diced potatoes. You can choose to lightly salt at this time, but I did not and my chowder was plenty seasoned and season with salt. Add black pepper, and paprika. Stir a few times then add 1 ½ cups of the clam broth. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. 4. Add the milk and cream. I took about 1 cup of the warm clam juice and added it to the mild and cream first in a separate bowl. Mixed it well. Let the juice and milk/cream reach a common temperature, then added the whole thing back into the soup bowl. Mixed it well, then added the clams and gently warmed until heated through, but do not boil. 5. After 5 minutes, add the cheese, cover and let melt. You can either serve the chowder right away, adding the chopped parsley and serving with the saltines or oyster crackers, or let cool (will thicken) and rewarm gently to avoid separating and serve as above.

Hint I always keep a few canisters of the Pillsbury French bread in my fridge. Although not really a loaf of French Bread, can be used in a pinch for something such as soup . This I used yesterday and It was delicious. I could have added a garlic oil coating, but left it "au natural" and it was very good.

.Bon Appetite Everyone! Let me know how it turns out