Slow Cooker Anyday: Market Street Clam Chowder

2011 March 4

by Emily Hill

First, a disclaimer. This isn’t really a slow cooker-specific meal but once you have it all prepped and ready, you can throw it in your crock pot on warm or low and it’s thickened and ready to serve when you get home. (If possible, stir it every couple hours. If not, it will still taste delicious but you’ll have a little extra scrubbing to do on the sides of the slow cooker. But that burns more calories so you can have a guilt-free second helping of this delicious clam chowder.)

My sister-in-law made this Market Street Clam Chowder for our annual Christmas Eve dinner, which consists of an assortment of soups in bread bowls. It was a hit so of course we asked her for the recipe. Turns out it’s the clam chowder from Market Street Grill, a Gastronomy restaurant. I couldn’t wait to make it again, so I thought I’d give it a shot and test it out in my slow cooker. It worked perfectly!

Image by Simon Shek, shared via Flickr.

It does take a little prep beforehand, so do plan ahead, but you could even dice and chop the night before, then do the quick simmering of the veggies while baking the butter and flour mixture, then throw it all together in the crock pot. It’s worth it, I promise! And clam chowder isn’t even my favorite soup!

Note: I used canned chopped clams (two small cans) and had more than enough clam juice and just the right amount of chopped clams. Also, I didn’t have Tabasco sauce so I used regular ol’ hot sauce; sherry cooking wine worked fine too. As far as the time goes, I had the soup on warm for a good four hours and it was perfect when I got home. It probably could have been in there another couple hours and still tasted great!

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Gastronomy’s Market Street Clam Chowder
Original recipe here.

1 cup potatoes, diced 1/2 inch
1 cup celery, diced 1/2 inch
1 cup onion, diced 1/2 inch
1 cup green pepper, diced 1/2 inch
1 cup leeks, diced 1/2 inch
3/4 cup chopped clams (canned or fresh)
3/4 T coarse ground black pepper
1 1/2 T salt
3/4 T whole thyme
6 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Tabasco
3/4 cup sherry wine (optional)
2 cups water
3/4 cup clam juice (drained from canned clams or purchased separately in can)
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
2 quarts half-and-half

(Yes, you need this much half-and-half. I didn’t title this a “Diet Anyday” recipe now, did I?)

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Combine melted butter and flour in oven-proof container and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Before

After

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In large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients except half-and-half.

(I’m starting to detect a 1/2-inch theme here.)

(Did I tell you chopped clams, fresh or canned, make me want to gag and yet I love clam chowder…as long as I don’t get a large, chewy clam piece in my soup.)

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Simmer until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. (Mine took about 15 minutes or so.)

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Stir butter-flour mixture into chowder and stir until thick.

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Remove chowder from heat and pour into slow cooker. Stir in half-and-half until well blended. Cook on low or warm until heated through and thickened.

(I wish I had a photo of the clam chowder in a bow looking all pretty but all I have are white and glass bowls—not the best for a creamy white soup. Oh wait, I just remembered…I have some dark red bowls tucked away on the shelf. Guess I’ll have to make this again!)

P.S. Yes, the photos of the diced ingredients was a bit of an overkill, but practice makes perfect when it comes to food photography. Right, Quinn?

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Previous Slow Cooker Anyday recipes:

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22 Responses Post a comment

Kristina P. permalink

March 4, 2011

I really love clam chowder, but I’ve never made it. Plus, Adam doesn’t like it. More for me, I guess!
Kristina P.´s deep thought ~ Holiday! Celebrate!

[Reply]
Emily Reply:
March 4th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
This batch would probably make too much for just one of you, but you could halve it and then have leftovers!

[Reply]
Susie's Homemade permalink

March 4, 2011

Yummo!!!

[Reply]
Emily Reply:
March 4th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Yes, totally yummo!

[Reply]
Rebecca permalink

March 4, 2011

Mmmmmm. I tried clam chowder for the first time a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure I would, but it’s a total comfort food. This looks divine. And EVERYTHING’s better when you add bread. I am always curious though (being the only soup-eater in my house), how does this soup freeze?
Rebecca´s deep thought ~ Surviving the last few weeks of Winter

[Reply]
Emily Reply:
March 4th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Well, I don’t know how this soup freezes but I have made another soup that uses flour, butter and milk as it’s creamy base and frozen it. When reheating, I simply added a little bit of milk to thin it out and it was great! I bet you could easily do the same with this recipe!

[Reply]
Rebecca permalink

March 7, 2011

I don’t even like clam chowder but I want to just gobble that up!
Rebecca´s deep thought ~ I Had My Cake and Ate it Too

[Reply]
Emily Reply:
March 7th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Honestly, this would actually be just as good if you doubled the potatoes and left out the clams!

[Reply]
Amy permalink

December 24, 2012

Thanks for posting the photos! I wanted to make this for Christmas Eve TONIGHT, but that first direction about baking flour and butter in the OVEN was a step I have never heard of! Your photo helped me see what was happening. I sure appreciate it. Merry Christmas!

[Reply]
Emily Hill Reply:
December 24th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
So glad that was helpful! Hope you the enjoy the recipe.

[Reply]
Brandie permalink

January 24, 2013

We are totally eating this! And soon!!!
Brandie´s deep thought ~ Wordless Wednesday….Family Fun at Scheels

[Reply]
Emily Hill Reply:
January 24th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
I absolutely LOVE this soup and I’m not a huge fan of clam chowder. Mmm…
Emily Hill´s deep thought ~ Southwestern dip for Super Bowl Sunday

[Reply]