Fresh Clam Chowder

My husband and I were at our local health food store, well local to us (2 hours away!) and saw fresh clams.  So began our adventure of fresh clam chowder...

Of course I would never attempt this with out some kind of recipe to ignore...so I consulted Epicurius and  they were more than happy to explain how to cook our clams...seemed pretty simple, the only thing I didn't really understand was the cutting off the the siphons, wasn't really sure what that was but figured I'd know it when I saw it. So, first step:





Put clams into cold water and gently swish back and forth. Transfer to another bowl of cold water and do the same. Continue until the water isn't murky anymore, but clear. Then:

Bring Water to a rolling boil and carefully place clams in water, when they are done, they will open. We kind of just stirred them around a bit to be able to see as they were opening. As they open just put them in a bowl to cool as they were done:

And there you have them...I do have to admit I did freak out a bit when they started to boil and bounce around in the pot, but Ryan assured me that they were dead when we bought them and logic stepped in and helped me move on to...the siphon.

This is the part where you get to dig your finger in and pop out all the poop...yes it is gross and if you don't like the idea of having to remove the waste product from your food, stick to canned clams!

Fun? Yes, it made me feel like I was transported to New England, just got back from clamming and was steaming up the harvest. No I have never been to New England, nor have ever been clamming...but it is fun to pretend.

The rest was fairly simple a little of this a little of that...

And dinner's ready! One thing we did do was use the broth from the clams for the soup, which seemed to add a lot of flavor, or maybe it was psychological, but in my non-expert opinion, pretty good. And a great way to spend the evening together!