I don’t know about you, but I could easily subsist on soup in the fall and winter. Whether a creamy bisque or chunky chowder, I’m happy to down a bowl for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Paired with crusty bread or crackers, it’s the perfect cold-weather meal.
Soup is one of my favorite dishes to make, too. There’s something relaxing about standing over a bubbling pot on a chilly day. What’s more, the payoff is huge: home-cooked comfort food that will warm you to the core.
Take, for example, this Manhattan clam chowder. It’s quite easy to prepare and super satisfying, especially when served with homemade oyster crackers. And the flavor develops with time, which means you can assemble the soup in advance and reheat it just before eating.
Recipes adapted from Wonderland Kitchen and New York Times.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons half-and-half
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 4 strips bacon, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½" cubes
- 3 6.5 oz. cans chopped clams in juice
- 2 8 oz. bottles clam juice
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes
- 1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- chopped fresh parsley (optional, for garnish)
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles coarse meal. Add the half-and-half and water and mix with a fork until the ingredients start to come together. Then use your hands to lightly knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a ball; cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough until it's about ⅛" thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut out crackers with a ½" round cutter or apple corer.
- Place the cutouts on a baking sheet. Press together scraps and repeat.
- Bake crackers until lightly brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Turn off oven. Open door slightly and leave crackers in oven for 30 minutes; then remove from the oven and let crackers cool completely.
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until fat renders and bacon crisps, about 5 minutes. Remove bacon from pot and set aside on paper towels to drain.
- Add onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
- Drain clams, reserving juice, and set aside. Transfer reserved juice to a measuring cup and add enough water to hit the 2-cup line; add to pot along with bottled clam juice, thyme, bay leaf and chili flakes. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Lightly smash some of the potatoes with the back of a wooden spoon to release their starch.
- Add tomatoes with juice, chopped clams and cooked bacon and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with parsley, if using, and oyster crackers.
