← Nouns Cooking · American

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg fresh clams in the shell, scrubbed
• 250 ml Water
• 100 g bacon or salt pork, diced
• 30 g Butter
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 500 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1 Bay leaves
• 3 sprigs Thyme
• 500 ml whole milk
• 200 ml double (heavy) cream
• Black pepper
• 2 tbsp Parsley, chopped

Method

1. Tap any open clams on the worktop and throw away any that don’t close. Put the clams in a large pot with the water, cover and cook over high heat for 5–7 min, shaking the pot, until they open. Discard any that stay shut.
2. Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with kitchen paper to catch any grit, and keep it. Pull the clams from their shells and roughly chop them.
3. Rinse out the pot and cook the bacon in the butter over medium heat for 6–8 min, until the fat has rendered and the edges are crisp.
4. Add the onion and celery and cook gently for 6–8 min, until soft but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
5. Gradually stir in the clam liquid, topping it up with water to make about 600 ml. Add the potatoes, bay and thyme and simmer for 12–15 min, until the potatoes are just tender.
6. Pour in the milk and cream and heat gently until steaming; don’t let it boil hard or it can split. Stir in the chopped clams and warm them for 2 min.
7. Remove the bay and thyme stalks, season with pepper (taste before adding salt, the clams are salty) and serve sprinkled with parsley and oyster crackers.

Tips

• Short on fresh clams? Use two 280 g tins of clams plus a bottle of clam juice, adding the clams right at the end.
• Like it thicker? Mash a few potato cubes against the side of the pot before adding the milk.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Tasting Table