My Favourite "not too clamy" Clam Chowder

Fall and Winter are soup time, and this is one of my favourite soups of all time. I start to crave this rich, salty, chowder when the leaves are starting to fall and we get a lot of cold rainy weather. It originally comes from my mom's friend Jan, but i have forgotten the recipe and reinvented it so many times that 'm not sure how much it still resembles hers. As with most cooking projects the ingredients here are flexible. i've made this without the wine, with water instead of stock, and with white fish instead of clams. but this is my favourite combination of ingredients. Serve with a couple slices of toasted sourdough bread, and a glass of white wine.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp olive oil

one can baby clams 

1/2 can of diced or whole tomatoes

one garlic clove 

one small to medium sized onion

two celery sticks

one carrot

one potato 

1/2 cup of Clamato juice 

(i buy the small cans cause they save longer that way, one can will do)

one cup dry white wine or dry sherry. 

3-4 cups vegetable broth or fish stock

1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

tabasco (optional)

mince garlic. dice onions, celery, carrots, and potato into small cubes

add olive oil to a dutch oven or soup pot, and vegetables and garlic and salt (remember that clams and Clamato juice are salty so don't go over board, just enough to sweat those veggies.) and pepper and cook on medium heat until onions are soft and beginning to brown.

remove from heat, add the liquid from the can of clams, but not the clams, and the wine or sherry, return to the heat and deglaze the bottom of the pot (scrap the brown bits off the bottom). 

let it return to a boil and allow to cook for a minute or two until reduced a bit. 

add the half a can of tomatoes and juice (if they are whole cut them into pieces). sometimes i add all the juice but only half the tomatoes, depends on how much liquid you have at this point.

add the Clamato juice

add the broth or stock

add Worcestershire sauce 

and the bay leaf

return to a boil then turn down and simmer for about 15-20 minutes 

remove the bay leaf

add the clams

and cook fro about 5 more minutes

taste test, add tabasco now if you're going to. now is the time to adjust salt. 

serve with buttered toast. 

Enjoy!