Ivar's Clam Chowder

LisaA's Note:

I've had this recipe for three years. If I remember right the person who gave it to me said it came from a newspaper article from Seattle Washington. I love this recipe. Just be careful not to make this when you're really tired. Worst cooking disaster was misreading 1/2 tea sugar for 1/2 cup. Talk about yuck! Cooking and prep time is just a guess. It's been a good year since I made this last.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 pot

• 2 (6 1/2 ounce) cans minced clams
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 2 cups finely diced potatoes
• 3/4 cup butter or 3/4 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup flour
• 4 cups half-and-half, warmed
• 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 1 dash pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, drain the juice from the clams; set the clams aside.
2. Combine clam juice with the onions, celery and potatoes.
3. Add enough water to barely cover and simmer, covered, over medium heat until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
4. In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
5. Add flour and stir in to the butter.
6. Slowly whisk in the warm half-and-half.
7. Cook and whisk until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes.
8. If you want a thinner chowder, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water or clam broth.
9. Add the vegetables with their cooking liquid, clams, salt, pepper and sugar to the pan.
10. Stir well and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Reviews

[Larawithoutau]

To start, this makes a lot, at least 8 servings. Made recipe as instructed (except I only had 2c half & half so I used 2 c milk & 2 c Fat Free Half & Half. I also felt it needed more clams, so I doubled the clams as another reviewer suggested and doubled the sugar as well. I may have put too much water (to cover the vegs) and felt that more seasoning was required. I added a bit of chicken base (would've used clam juice if I had it) and a lot more pepper. Very nice recipe with the suggestions mentioned. Thanks for posting!

[*Parsley*]

I loved the thick, creamy texture. I made this as written, but doubled the clams and the sugar. This is a great, no-nonsense clam chowder. I admit that I am used to using thyme and some other seasonings in my clam chowder, but I still thought this was delicious and I would not call it bland. I sprinkled with paprika to make it look pretty to serve. Thanx for sharing!

[fizixdood]

Lisa, I saw this recipe and was intrigued, because when I used to go to Washington State, one of the first places I would stop at was Ivar's for the chowder. I tried to make this recipe, and initially it was rather bland and did not really have any clam flavor. To combat this in the future, I will double the amount of clams and tinker around with the pepper and salt some, also decrease the flour by 1/3 to 1/2 c. What I did do with the first batch to pop it a liottle was add the following: 3 slices bacon, cooked and chopped, 1 Alaskan Pollock filet, diced into 1/4 in pieces while still frozen, 2 T Chicken Coup Base, about 1 T black pepper, and 4 dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce, the Fiery Habanero version (you can find that at some stores around Indy, but I order it from them online). I may try to add some 1/2in cut asparagus later, too.