Awesome Clam Chowder

This came about after a long search through many recipes. Is good eating the first day, but refrigerating overnight is what makes it awesome. When I served to for the group at my son’s work, they ate it up. A couple of the guys said they didn’t like clam chowder, but this was good.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 4 (6 1/2ounce) cans clams, drained and liquid reserved (I used a mix of minced and whole baby clams)
• 2  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or any light tasting oil)
• 2 (8 ounce) bottles  clam juice
• 1 1⁄2 cups  minced onions
• 1 1⁄2 cups  diced celery
• 3  cups  cubed potatoes
• 1  cup frozen corn or 1  cup fresh corn
• 1 1⁄2 cups  diced carrots
• 1  cup butter
• 1  cup all-purpose flour
• 3  cups half-and-half cream
• 3  cups  chicken stock
• 1 (4 ounce) can baby shrimp, drained
• 3  tablespoons red wine vinegar, I know it sounds weird but it really adds a spark
• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons salt, I like use sea salt
•  ground black pepper

Directions

1. Sauté celery, onions, and carrots (if using fresh corn add it now) and in oil in a large skillet until softened.
2. Add potatoes, frozen corn, bottles of clam juice, plus enough drained liquid from canned clams to cover vegetables*, and cook over medium heat until tender. *If not enough liquid add only enough water until vegetables are covered.
3. After about 10 - 15 minutes, when vegetables are almost tender, melt the butter in a large heavy soup pot over medium heat.
4. Whisk flour into melted butter until smooth and fully cooked.
5. Whisk in half & half and chicken stock, stir constantly until thick and smooth.
6. Stir in vegetables, cooking liquid, and season with salt and pepper. Heat through, but do not boil.
7. Stir in clams and shrimp – If they cook too much they get tough - do not allow it to boil. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar.
8. At this point I took it off the heat and let it cool down enough to put into the fridge covered as I was serving it the next day.
9. A couple of hours before serving I just put it into the crock from one of my slow cookers, put the lid on, then put it into the microwave at 10 minutes at 50% power to get it started and then into the slow cooker on slow.