This recipe will serve ten people.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ quarts clams
• ¾ pound salt pork
• 4 small onions
• 4 cups tomatoes
• 2 ½ cups celery
• 1 ½ cups carrots
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley minced
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 large bay leaf
• 3 potatoes
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

Take the clams and put in a kettle, cover the clams with water, and let the clams steam open. Take the clams away from the heat as soon as they have opened. Collect the juice and put it through a strainer with cheesecloth. Slice the clams.

Render the fat from the salt pork in a kettle, and remove the residue. Then chop the onions and saute them in the pork fat that you have rendered. Let them cook until they become soft and golden.

Peel the tomatoes and chop them, add them to the onions you are cooking and saute in the pork fat , simmer for many minutes. Next, chop the celery.Then peel and chop the carrots, and add the rest of the ingredients ( except the clams and potatoes)  and the reserved clam juice to the mix. Add water as well. Simmer this covered for about an hour.

Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes, then add to the chowder and let it simmer for about fifteen minutes. Then add in clams and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Add seasoning to taste if desired.

You are now ready to serve, ladle into bowls and serve with crackers.

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This is a tomato-based chowder , which is a spin on the classic variation!

Ingredients: (Makes 6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 large stalks celery (with leaves).chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 bottle (8 ounces) clam juice
• 2 cans (6 ½ ounces each) chopped clams (with juice)
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 cans (14 ½ ounces each) reduced – sodium stewed tomatoes (with juice)
• 1 ½ cups frozen whole kernel corn
• ¾ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp dried basil
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp salt (optional)
• 1/8 tsp  ground black pepper
• 2 – 3 drops hot – pepper sauce
• 1 bay leaf

Preparation:

Take the oil and warm it up in a pan over medium heat, then add the onions, celery, garlic and three tablespoons of the clam juice. Cook this for about five minutes or until it has all become tender. If you feel it is necessarily, add more clam juice while you are cooking.

Take the clams and drain out the juice in a small bowl. Leave the clams aside and add the clam juice to the mixture that you have been cooking. Then add in the potatoes, green peppers, and the rest of the bottled clam juice. Bring this all to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover. Let it simmer for about ten minutes or more, until the potatoes have become tender. Then add in the tomatoes with the juice, the corn, the thyme, the basil, the chili powder, the salt, the black pepper, the hot pepper sauce, the bay leaf, and the clams that you had set aside. Bring this all to a boil and cover and let simmer once more for about five minutes, then remove the bay leaf and throw away.

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Ingredients:

• 1 quarter shucked larger cherrystone clams with their liquor.
• ¼ pound salt pork or slab bacon, diced
• 1 larger onion, minced (approximately 1 cup)
• 4 ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded, and chopped with juices reserved (Approximately 3 cups)
• 2 cups cold water
• 1tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
• 1tsp. fresh tarragon leaves
• freshly milled black pepper
• 1 ½ cups small new potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 3 small carrots, diced (approximately 1 cup)
• 2 dozen small littleneck clams, washed, drained, and chilled
• 1 pound firm white fish fillets, such as weakfish or bass, cubed
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• Oyster crackers

Preparation:

Take the clams and strain the liquid into a small bowl, then chop the clams with a very sharp knife. Cover them and set it aside. In a large pot, render the fat from the salt pork. then remove the cracklings and set aside. Add the onions to the fat that was rendered and saute, then add the tomatoes and the juices. Add in two cups of water, herbs, and the seasonings. Then add in the clam liquid that was reserved, the potatoes, and the carrots. Cover this and let it simmer for about ten minutes, then let the potatoes cook, when they are tender add the reserved clam meat and allow it too cook for about seven minutes. Then remove from the heat and cover and refrigerate overnight.

To assemble:

Take the litteneck clams and put them in the freezer, so that they will quickly open. In the meanwhile, take out all of the fat that has accumulated at the top of the stew. Bring this stew to a simmer on medium heat, when it starts to bubble, add in the little neck clams cover and simmer. When the clams start to open, add in the cubed fish and simmer until the fish are tender. Then add in the cracklings that were reserved and the parsley. You are now ready to serve! Serve with crackers.

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