Unlike its brother the New England chowder, Manhattan style has a tomato based broth and no cream, a heritage inherited from the Portuguese immigrants arriving into Rhode Island in the 1890’s. It’s now found and served everywhere and although a few folks enjoy both, you definitely aren’t on the fence here – you are either a New England or Manhattan lover, as each is vastly different, but equally as lovely.
6 cloves of garlic – minced
2 dozen little neck clams – scrubbed
1 cup of white wine
4-5 slices of thick cut smoked bacon – chopped
1 large onion – chopped
2 celery stalks – chopped
3 TBSP butter
1 TBSP APF – all-purpose flour
1 TBSP sugar
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can chopped San Marzano tomatoes – with their juice
2 medium potatoes – peeled and medium cubed
Juice of ½ lemon
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
½ cup of chopped parsley
In a medium Dutch oven, sauté the bacon to render the fat and crisp. About 7 minutes over medium flame. Remove, set aside. Drain most of the fat, reserving it for another uses.
Add a TBSP of olive oil and ½ the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, add the clams, the lemon juice, wine and cover with about 2 ½ cups of water. Cover them and bring up to a boil to steam them – about 5-6 minutes. With some tongs remove the opened ones to a bowl. Cook for another minute to check if any of the closed clams open up. Discard the ones that haven’t. Cool, strain their liquid and reserve. Shuck the clams and chop them roughly.
In the same Dutch oven, add the butter and sweat the celery, onion, thyme, red pepper flakes and remaining garlic with a pinch of salt for about 4-5 minutes. Incorporate the flour and cook off the raw flour taste – about 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add the strained clam stock and bring to a slow simmer. Add the tomatoes, sugar and bay leaves and simmer for about 30 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the reserved bacon and the chopped clams. Serve with some sprinkled fresh parsley and wedges of lemon.
NOTE
When draining the clams to reserve the broth from cooking, ensure to line the strainer with a coffee filter to remove any sandy and gritty sediments from the steaming them and keep a few of the shells for presentation.
Fresh bay leaves are exceptional and when found at any grocer, they keep refrigerated for about 2-3 months. The taste difference between fresh and dried is significant – so if you are out of the regular beaten path you happen to find fresh bay leaves – snag them and let me know the difference after you have used them!
Saving bacon fat is something that in our regimented day and age sounds rather incongruous since we are trying to remove most of the “bad” fat from our diets. However, you have no idea the flavor that half a TSP of bacon fat adds to many dishes. It’s not something that I do often, but partaking on a bit of bacon fat every once in a while isn’t something that is going to shatter your world – so step out of the box!
