Market Street Clam Chowder

My husband has been begging me to make clam chowder for months.  He’s not a big soup fan but if it has fish and is super creamy then he’s all for it.   I guess my next task will be to make lobster bisque.  But I don’t mind because that stuff is good!  

This is a copycat recipe of the Salt Lake City restaurant Market Street Grill.  Best seafood restaurant in Salt Lake.  Every time we visited Utah to see family we always made sure to eat there at least once.  One time we ate there with my grandparents a few hours before heading to the airport and while driving away somehow the trunk of my grandma’s car popped open and all of our luggage fell out in the middle of the intersection.  It was pretty funny for us kids to see but the adults (especially my grandparents) were freaking out which kind of made it even funnier.  Oh and it was pouring rain at the time too.  Good times.

So… I did make a few adjustments to the original recipe.  I increased the potatoes to make it chunkier and the starch also helps thicken the soup up.  There are slightly more clams and I changed when to add them.  The original recipe has you simmer the clams with everything else but since they are already cooked you are just over cooking them which makes them tough and rubbery (not appetizing).  Adding them at the end and warming them up with the cream keeps the clams perfectly tender.  I also just threw in whole sprigs of thyme because I had it on hand but you can also use dried.

Print Recipe

Market Street Clam Chowder

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time35 mins

Total Time55 mins

Servings: 12 (1 1/2 cup servings)

Author: Garnish and Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 3 cups potatoes, diced 1/2 inch
• 1 cup celery, finely diced
• 1 cup yellow onions, finely diced
• 1 cup green pepper, finely diced
• 1 cup leeks, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2 sprigs whole thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 2 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup clam juice, use reserves from the canned clams
• 3 6.5 ounce cans minced clams, drained, reserve clam juice
• 1 1/2 to 2 quarts half & half
• Freshly cracked pepper, for garnish
• Fresh whole thyme, for garnish
• Crackers or bread, for topping (optional)

Instructions

• Mix melted butter and flour together in an oven safe dish and bake at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes.
• In a large pot, add all ingredients except clams and half & half. Bring to a boil, turn to medium-low, cover, and allow to simmer until potatoes are cooked (10-15 minutes).
• Stir in the butter/flour mixture until thick (Super thick-- almost like cookie dough).
• Stir in the clams and half & half (for thicker soup just use 1 1/2 quarts) and heat over medium-low until desired thickness (leftover soup the next day is thicker) and warmed through. Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Serve in a bowl or bread bowl and garnish with fresh cracked pepper and fresh thyme.

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 Recipe source: mom