Manhattan Clam Chowder

When a pregnant woman has a craving you try your best to get her what she wants.  At least I thought I would try to help out.  Sonny (my oldest son) and Selma got married early this year and yes - she is five months pregnant.  (Congratulations!  We are all so happy)!  Selma and I had exchanged a few e-mails earlier in the week about her wanting seafood and her and Sonny finding a new seafood restaurant that was good but it didn't have the soup she had been wanting.  She said Sonny was going to try to make it this weekend and we should get together.
It turned out the conversation was never settled and there were a string of confusing conversations between everyone in the family that sounded like some silly 30 minute comedy show on television.  I mentioned it to Jay, he mentioned it to Dante, Dante talked to me, Dante talked to Sonny, Sonny called Jay, Dante called me and we finally got together yesterday here at our house.  Jay told me Selma wanted Manhattan Clam Chowder.  That seemed to be the soup she was craving.  Okay, I thought.  I've done that before.  So I actually found some great Cherry Stone Clams!  I got 2 cups of water to boil and added them in for a 4-5 minute steam bath.  I might have left them a tinge too long but they were fully opened when I fished them out of the pot.

I left the water in the pot to settle while I got my vegetables cut. I crisped some bacon pieces in a pan and set aside.

After adding about a tablespoon of the bacon drippings into the tall saucepan I added the crisp bacon and the onions, then garlic. After 1-2 minutes I added the celery and carrots and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. Then I added the potatoes and poured in all the water from the steamed clams into the tall saucepan. I left a small amount of liquid at the bottom where some grit had settled. I added oregano and bay leaves and let the potatoes cook. I went back and minced my clams (not too small) and added them into the pot once the potatoes were ready.

At this point the soup was pretty much done. I covered the saucepan and let the flavors meld while I cut up a bagette, brushed it with olive oil and grilled it for some crunch. They made the perfect dipping tool for the Manhattan Clam Chower.

Everyone seemed to like it.

Then the questions was asked of Selma, "Is this the soup you were craving?" She admitted it wasn't. There was a different seafood soup she was thinking about that had shrimp and fish and scallops and octopus... I don't have a recipe for that one! So, in any case, it got us all together and as far as the soup cravings, we all decided we would wait to take on another soup when it was much, much less than 100 degrees outside.

The meal and the great company went on from there.  And as far as a pregnant womans cravings I tried to help out!  It's not my fault the rumour mill didn't get me the accurate information!      

TT