Delicious Manhattan Seafood Chowder

CHEF JOHN'S MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Drain baby and chopped clams. Reserve liquid in the refrigerator until needed and set clams aside.
• Place bacon in a soup pot over medium-high heat; cook and stir until well-browned and almost crispy, 7 to 10 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt; cook and stir until onions start to soften and turn translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add tomato paste; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Don't worry if some of the tomato paste sticks to the bottom of the pot; we want that to happen. Sprinkle in flour; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Dump in reserved clam juice plus bottled clam juice and chicken broth. Stir with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze any caramelization.
• Add carrots, celery, clams, diced tomatoes, pepper, and cayenne; stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, skimming off some bacon fat if desired.
• Add diced potatoes and cook until tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt, if needed. Stir in fresh tarragon and parsley just before serving.

MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Put the clams in a large, heavy Dutch oven, add about 4 cups water, then set over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until clams have opened, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. (Clams that fail to open after 15 to 20 minutes should be discarded.) Strain clam broth through a sieve lined with cheesecloth or doubled-up paper towels, and set aside. Remove clams from shells, and set those aside as well.
• Rinse out the pot, and return it to stove. Add butter, and turn heat to medium-low. Add bacon or salt pork, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and the pork has started to brown, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove pork from fat, and set aside.
• Add onions, garlic, celery, green peppers and carrots to the fat, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft but not brown, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in potatoes, and continue cooking until they have just started to soften, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add 4 cups of clam broth, reserving the rest for another use. Add the sprigs of thyme and the bay leaf.
• Partly cover the pot, and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, smash a few potatoes against the side of the pot to release their starch and help thicken the broth.
• Meanwhile, chop the clams into bits that are about the size of the bacon dice.
• When potatoes are tender, stir in tomatoes, and heat them through. Add chopped clams and reserved bacon, stirring to combine. Add black pepper to taste. Let chowder come to a simmer, and remove from heat. Fish out the thyme and the bay leaf, and discard.
• The chowder should be allowed to sit for a while to cure. Reheat it before serving, then garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with oyster crackers.

MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat butter over low heat. Add onion, celery, green pepper and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes. Add water and potatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. , Add tomatoes, clams, salt, thyme, pepper and cayenne; heat through. Stir in parsley. Serve immediately.

MANHATTAN SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cut bacon into small pieces and fry in pan.
• Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
• Saute celery, red bell pepper, onions and garlic in small amount of bacon grease for several minutes to sweat.
• Add fish and lightly sear.
• Add water or chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, clam juice, clams and simmer for 1 hour.
• Add potatoes and carrots.
• Season with paprika, red pepper flakes, Old Bay, oregano and hot sauce.
• Simmer until potatoes and carrots are almost tender.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add shrimp 15 minutes before serving.

MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic, and crushed red pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute more. Tie the parsley sprigs, fresh thyme, and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the pot with the potatoes. Pour in the clam juice and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and clams. Cover and bring to a low simmer. Season with pepper to taste. Divide among warm soup bowls and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve immediately.
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SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cut the shrimp, scallops, and monkfish into bite-sized pieces and place them in a bowl with the crabmeat.
• In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter; add the carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and corn and saute over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are barely cooked, stirring occasionally. Add the flour; reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the Seafood Stock and bring to a boil. Add the seafood; reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 7 to 10 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Add the heavy cream, if desired, and the parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
• Warm the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery and saute for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add 1 1/2 quarts of water, the white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. You can make up the difference with water or wine if you need to.

MANHATTAN SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• In large pot or dutch oven cook onion and garlic in butter until tender.
• Stir in soup and V-8 juice.
• Add milk and seasonings.
• Add carrots, potato, zucchini, and seafood.
• Cook over low to medium heat until the potatoes are tender.

DELICIOUS SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over med.-high heat.
• Add onion, celery and garlic until onion is tender, about 10 minutes.
• Drain clams, reserving liquid.
• Add liquid to saucepan.
• Stir in tomato soup, clam juice and tomato paste and bring to a boil.
• Add snapper, shrimp, minced parsley, Italian seasoning and cayenne.
• Simmer until shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in clams.
• Season to taste, with salt and pepper.

MANHATTAN SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• Scrub clams well and line a large sieve with a double thickness of cheesecloth. In an 8-quart heavy kettle with a lid steam clams in water, covered, stirring occasionally, until they have just opened, 8 to 10 minutes. Discard any unopened clams and drain remainder in lined sieve set over a bowl. Reserve clam juice. Remove two thirds clams from shells (leave remainder in shells). Transfer all clams to another bowl and partially cover with foil. Clams may be prepared up to this point 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Wipe kettle clean with paper towels and discard cheesecloth.
• Cut bacon crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Cut onions into 1/2-inch cubes and mince garlic. Peel potatoes and turnips and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Trim fennel stalks flush with bulbs, discarding stalks, and core bulbs. Halve bulbs lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. In kettle cook bacon over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
• In fat remaining in kettle cook onion and garlic over moderate heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in potatoes, turnips, fennel, and reserved clam juice and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Drain tomatoes in sieve set over a bowl and reserve juice. Chop tomatoes and add to vegetables with juice, wine, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Chowder may be made up to this point 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Return chowder to simmer before proceeding.
• Cut halibut into 2-inch cubes and remove any bones. Chop parsley or cilantro. Add halibut and clams to chowder, stirring gently to combine well, and cook until halibut is just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in parsley or cilantro and serve chowder sprinkled with bacon.