Martha Mondays: Clam Chowder
Posted by in Food
Thanks to Ana at Sweet Almond Tree for choosing Clam Chowder for this week’s project. I totally screwed mine up though. Sigh. It was a really, really rough week here with a family member mysteriously ill, a dog also sick, and Mr. MarthaAndMe MIA due to a major work crisis. In the middle of this I had two indexes due and two big client projects to write. In between doctor visits, radiology appts, and vet visits, I could barely think straight.
I made this one night thinking it would be a nice warm comfort food that people could just reheat as necessary through the week. I have a clam chowder recipe that is very similar to this one which I got from a Nantucket cookbook and I love it. That recipe tells me how much clam meat to use and I use frozen clams. Martha’s recipe says to use 8 lbs of clams in the shell. I wasn’t about to shuck clams for this so I used frozen clams again. I wasn’t thinking about the size of the recipe though and used an entire one pound bag of frozen clams. It was WAY too clammy.
I ended up adding lots more milk and some cream to this and then I thickened it with some flour since I had to add so much more liquid. It was still too clammy. And it was kind of an unappetizing gray color. Ugh. I ate some. Mr. MarthaAndMe (who just loves clams) ate some but that was about it. I’ve got lots left but it’s really just not very good. I can’t blame Martha for this at all – if I had used maybe half that amount of clams this would have been good.
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You’re so funny…too clammy! Sorry for your rough week! Maybe you should freeze the soup if you ended up with so much! I’m making mine today right after I dig up the clams 😀
Hope everything is calming down and everyone is feeling better. I didnt know you could buy frozen clams. I used canned. I wasnt about to shuck clams either. Lyndsey is going to show us all up by digging up her own. I’m impressed!…and lazy. LOL
I have never had luck freezing clam chowder. It gets grainy when it defrosts. Love that you are digging up the clams yourself! I’ll bet it’s going to taste great!
I considered the canned, but I’ve always used frozen. They sell it in the prepackaged seafood freezer right next to the fish counter in my grocery store.
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies
but in battalions.” Sorry you had a rough week. What you need now is to get some store baught clam chowder, heat it in the microwave, pour it in a bowl, and slurp it up, all the while forgeting where in your house that thing called a cooking stove is located. (I too bought ready clams. Anything to save time).
Still made for a nice photo. I love clam chowder!
Ha ha! Thanks Ana. Everyone’s better now and I have regained my sanity, although Mr. MarthaAndMe is still MIA and may never return from his work crisis.
Slightly off topic but nonetheless: I’m in the middle of seafood central, or so it seems, here in New Orleans, where mussels, oysters, and shrimp rule. What’s the word, though, on eating creatures fished from the Gulf these days?
You guys are so funny! Mine is finally up!
Clams aren’t for me, so I didn’t take part. Sorry you have had a lousy week. Hopefully it will get better this week and be more calm.
I laughed when I ready, “too clammy” too! Sorry this didn’t work out for you as you hoped. I hate the kind of weeks you described and I hope it is getting better.
Huh, I’m trying to learn to like clam chowder. Just last night I made potato-bacon chowder, it was sooo soothing.
Oh, that’s one of my faves too! I remember having it at Bennigan’s as a kid. It was one of the first things I learned to make myself. My version has cheese in it of course:)