by thirschfeld
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A&M's Testing Notes:
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3 ounces
pancetta, 1/4 inch dice
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2 cups
yellow onion, peeled and julienned
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2
leeks, rinsed, white parts only, sliced into half moons
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4
shallots, peeled and sliced
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1/3 cup
celery, 1/4 inch dice
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1 1/2 tablespoon
fresh garlic, minced
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1 teaspoon
fresh thyme, minced
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1
bay leaf
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2 cups
chicken stock
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2 cups
half and half
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3
russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 dice
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1 tablespoon
Italian parsley, minced
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1 tablespoon
fresh chives, chopped
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Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
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In a 3 quart Dutch oven or sauce pan add the butter and pancetta and place it over medium heat to render the pancetta. Once some of the fat has been released add the onions, shallot and celery. Saute until they are just becoming golden. You don't want them to brown too much or the soup will be brown. Add the leeks, garlic and thyme. Cook until the leeks are just becoming soft. Add the bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring it to a boil and add the half and half and the potatoes. Bring the soup back to a boil and then immediately turn off the heat and cover the pot. Allow it to rest for at least thirty minutes.
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1 tablespoon
unsalted butter
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1 cup
oyster crackers
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1 tablespoon
Italian parsley, minced
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Fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper
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Heat a small saute pan over medium high heat. Add the butter and once it has stopped bubbling but is not brown, add the oyster crackers and toss the crackers to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and toss the crackers gently in order to coat all the crackers with the parsley. Pour out onto a baking sheet and let cool.
Ask the hotline about this step!To finish the soup reheat it but don't let it boil. Taste a potato to check and see if it is done and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If the potatoes are not done then cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley and chives and then ladle into cups or bowls. Top with a few oyster crackers and serve.
Ask the hotline about this step!Oh great, I am glad you enjoyed it so much you plan to make it again. That makes my day, thank you.
Your wonderful recipe got rave reviews from my friends yesterday at lunch. It was great!! I made 2 small alterations: I used condensed skim instead of half and half (not great for the color but...) and added 1/4 inch diced butternut squash. Even better? Leftovers for tonight!
Thanks so much for sharing this with this rest of us -
you are very welcome and I am glad you enjoyed it. I think your addition of butternut squash is great.
So I saw the picture and thought this chowder looked yummy. Read the ingredient list.... and instructions. Butter? Corn? Didn't see them listed.... hmm. Oh well, I know how to roll. Followed instructions, removed from heat,covered and let stand for 30 minutes. My potatoes were hard. Put back on the heat, and simmered another 30 minutes. Flavor was much better, potatoes still hard. 30 more minutes.... tender potatoes and Great flavor. My advice? Cook this soup longer than instructed for fully developed flavor. I bet it will taste even better the next day
Sorry to hear about your potatoes. I have cooked this soup a lot, maybe over 50 times or more, and I have never had the potatoes remain hard but none the less I am sure it can happen. Seems like in the end you enjoyed the soup but I am sorry you had to go a round about way to get there.
Great recipe! I made it with fat free half & half, and added some small shrimp and it was wonderful. Thanks
thank you, the shrimp would be nice.
Viewed this recipe on Huffington Post, which lured me to this fabulous site brimming with wonderful ideas and energy. So, I joined. How could I not? I made this chowder two nights ago with the addition of some leftover chunks of Oregon coast steelhead. Fragrant and luscious! And thanks so much for the 30 minutes off-the-heat tip after adding the potatoes. The texture was perfect! I'll use this technique for chowder from now on.
Thank you and I am so glad you like it. Salmon would be to great
I just made this for a few friends as a part of a "pre" thanksgiving meal. They all loved it. In fact, my friend just told me it was her favorite part of the meal! I didn't even add the chives or parsley at the end because I didn't see that the last paragraph under the cracker menu was meant for the soup - but it was still delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe - this was a great fall soup that didn't require a food processor, which was my only stipulation of the night.
Thank you and you are welcome. I am so glad everyone enjoyed it
I made this on Saturday and had it for dinner tonight. It was terrific with a lovely balance.
This was tonight's dinner, and it was really delicious. Since I didn't see the butter listed in the ingredient listing for the chowder, though it appeared in the first step, I winged it and used what we like to call "a knob" :D Also pulled the pancetta out after it crisped to add back in right before serving. The best pancetta we can reliably get here is La Quercia, and it's pre-sliced very thin. Absolutely wonderful recipe, and thank you for sharing it!
I am so glad you liked it. An yes I often use a "knob" of butter. That might be my favorite recipe measurement. Yeah I never know about the crispy bacon/pancetta question. I don't like it crunchy but I know lots of others do so I am glad you made it how you like it.
I love chowders but I don't like them heavy, either. This looks luscious, thank you for sharing.
Frustrated by the limitations of a small town grocery store?
Bacon, diced finely, makes a perfectly good substitute for pancetta.
No shallots? Add some more onion or leeks.
Scallops, added to the hot soup to poach just before serving---delicious.
(Little Maine shrimp, now in season, would probably be good, too.)
How great to have a chowder recipe that really has onions take center stage. A nice change from usual onion broth soups. Hearty, but not heavy.
Malpec oysters that is.
I agree with Antonia. This is very similar to my husbands fish chowder with scallops but after we read this he said he would just add fresh Malpec (small and sweet) just at the end when it is resting.
I really like that everyone is taking an idea an running with it. So cool. But what is really great is getting to watch the slide show and seeing Amanda and Merrill make my recipe. So so cool. Thanks for all the great compliments too.
Just love this soup. I have absolutely everything in the house, too! I see this appearing at our dinner table before the end of the weekend. Thank you for posting!
I'm SO glad this is a finalist! I made this early this week, using natural bacon instead of pancetta (because that's all I had), and using 2% milk instead of half and half, because we prefer a somewhat lighter soup. I did, however, use about two teaspoons of butter when first cooking the onions, after pouring off most of the bacon fat. I removed the bacon, too, adding the chopped pieces it at the end, so that it is crisp, but I can see how cooking with the pancetta would add to the flavor of the soup, so I plan to try this with pancetta, as instructed here. Also, as Mrs. Larkin noted, a rich, flavorful chicken broth makes all the difference.
I love recipes that use simple ingred. most cooks have on hand. Brilliant re the oyster crackers. Sunday supper coming up - thanks for a guaranteed addition to my recipe box!
Really love this one, and that it uses chicken stock. Calling all roast chicken carcasses!
This looks fabulous and was a great pick for finalist. I love fish chowders but never make them anymore since my husband is allergic to all non-shellfish, so this is a great way to reconstruct those wonderful chowders. I can't wait to make this one. Thanks and good luck!
You could put some scallops in this and it would be tasty, I bet. I use virtually the same recipe (though I cook the potato in the broth and aromatics, before adding the milk) and then at the last minute, right before eating, add bite-sized chunks of cod just to cook them. Be sure to use great stock, though, or the soup won't be nearly as good. It makes a great winter time dinner soup.
Great idea Antonia! Scallops are definitely on his menu. Thanks! I'm thinking I'll make this on Sunday for us.
This has finalist written all over it :) Can't wait to make this - the crackers are a wonderful addition.
Gorgeous! I can almost smell it, just reading the ingredients. I had fish chowder -- made very much as you've made this one, but adding fish and a bit of (my own) frozen corn -- on my dance card this week, but I believe that's going to change. You're so right about letting the chowder sit for a while. That usually happens at my house by default, but now that you mention it, I'm going to build that into my schedule henceforth. Thank you for posting this! It's perfectly lovely.
Shuna is the Pastry Chef at Peels Restaurant in NYC and author of the acclaimed blog Eggbeater.
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Onion, shallot, parsley, chives, (forgot to include the thyme!), garlic, leek, celery, oyster crackers, half and half, and pancetta.
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Thickly slice pancetta.
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We love this photo -- reminds us of the hundreds of hours we've spent in the kitchen together, peeling, chopping, chatting.
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This chowder involves a bunch of prep and then not much else. Our kind of recipe!
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There's Kristen on the left!
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The pancetta goes into the pan along with some butter. You render the pancetta and brown it lightly.
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All our vegetables and aromatics, on the runway.
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First the celery, shallot and onion go into the pot.
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Then the leeks, garlic and thyme.
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Next broth (wasn't pretty enough to include) and then half and half and potatoes.
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Then comes the magic trick -- you bring the soup to a boil, then cover it with a lid, turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. The potatoes cook through, the flavors meld and the chowder chowders.
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Oyster crackers.
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More butter! You could skip this part. Purely out of a sense of duty, we followed through with toasting the crackers in butter.
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You season them with pepper.
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And then blanket them with parsley.
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Last step is to stir some fresh parsley and chives into the chowder.
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Wow made this today and my partner and child loved it look forward to making more from this great site