It’s embarrassing that it took me till I was in my 30’s to actually discover who the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars is, but every time I think about it I’m like “no way, no way”
Suffer as I have suffered
I thought to myself, “Their music is fine, but I don’t really care, so this knowledge won’t affect me.”
that halfway stage of oc creation when you’re closing in on the design or the personality or both but the other half of the character’s still a nebulous concept and they don’t even have a name but now they’re alive and they demand to be heard. agonizing
-A very, very large pot -Cutting board -Knife that can cut vegetables -A couple of bowls to store pre-chopped things in if you don’t want to be chopping vegetables at light speed -A spoon to stir the chowder while it cooks -A bowl to serve yourself the soup out of
What you’ll need (ingredients): -1 quart (32 oz) heavy cream (~$5 at walmart) -Red or russet potatoes (~3-4 lb, $3-4 at walmart) -Clam juice (8 oz) ($2.50 at walmart) -Canned clams (13 oz, 2 cans) ($4.50 at walmart) -Worcestershire sauce (to taste) (Preferably not Great Value, so ~$2 at walmart. If you go with Great Value, $1) -White onion (2) (about $2.50 at walmart) -Flour (a couple teaspoons for thickening) (2lb bag is ~1.50 at walmart) -Garlic (2 bulbs, or less if you don’t like it that much) ($1.50 at walmart) -Black pepper (One container is $2 at walmart) -Water (Pennies on the dollar)
Optional, but goes over the $25 budget: Butter (a tablespoon or so, about $4 for 4 sticks.)
Recipe:
Mince the garlic. Put it in a bowl.
Chop the onions and potatoes to roughly cubic inch-sized pieces. Put those in separate bowls.
Put the pot on the stove, set to low heat.
Place EITHER: 1 TBSP butter OR 1.5 TBSP heavy cream into the pot. Stir to prevent burning. (You can eyeball this amount.)
Add an equal amount of flour to the pot. Continue stirring until it has completely mixed with the butter or heavy cream and has begun to brown a tiny bit.
Add the onions, the garlic, and the clam juice to the pot. Add heavy cream and water in equal parts until the onions are covered. Continue stirring until the onions soften such that they can be cut with a fork.
Add the potatoes to the pot. Add the rest of the heavy cream here, if any remains; add water until the potatoes are covered if none remains. Stir for about 5 minutes.
Rinse off the clams and add them to the pot. Simmer for about 10 minutes; add Worcestershire sauce and pepper to taste at this point. (I usually use around a tablespoon of the former and who knows how much of the latter). If you have any other spices on hand that you think would work, you can add them here.
Simmer until the potatoes are soft enough to cut with your cooking spoon.
Serve (with more pepper if you like.)
This should make about 7-8 bowls that are filling enough to be an entire dinner if you eat around 2000 kcal/day. If you have some extra money, you can either serve with oyster crackers or toasted bread. Due to the overall richness of the dish, it’s best served in the colder months; it is also best stored in the fridge (rather than the freezer). Ideally, the result should be a slightly tangy, creamy, and vaguely clam-flavored soup, with a hearty body.
Total time (prep+cooking) is usually around 1.5-2 hours. Potatoes are finicky, as is cream. If you’d like to add other things to your soup and have some extra cash, options include green onion, bacon, or diced carrots. None are really necessary for the dish, though.
I have not tried making this as a vegetarian dish, but mushrooms should have a fairly similar texture to clams; the clam juice can theoretically be replaced with water (or vinegar.) Worcestershire sauce can be replaced with balsamic vinegar in that case.
