New England-Style Clam Chowder
Serves 4

What could be more warming on a chilly day than a steaming cup of creamy clam chowder? But most versions of this New England classic come laden with more potatoes than clams and some are thickened with flour roux. We’ve sidestepped those carby ingredients, filling ours with diced celery root and thickening it with fiber thickeners, but retained all the creaminess and clamminess that make us love it in any season.

Ingredients
4-6 slices bacon, minced
1 cup onion, peeled and minced
1 cup celery root, peeled and diced
½ cup diced celery
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon salt (for celery root)
½ teaspoon addition salt, only if needed
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons Thickenthin notStarch¹ thickener
2 cups half and half
2 cups shucked clams
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, cover the celery root with water, add about 1 teaspoon salt, and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft enough to pierce easily with the tip of a knife.
2. Fry bacon until crisp. Remove minced bacon pieces with slotted spoon and reserve.
3. In the bacon grease that remains, over medium heat, cook the onion and celery until limp.
4. Add the cooked celery root and chicken stock, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil. (At this point, you can stop, cool the chowder broth and hold in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two before proceeding. When ready to serve, bring broth to a boil, reduce heat and continue with step 5.) Taste for salt. The saltiness of the bacon drippings may be sufficient. Add to your taste.
5. Reduce heat to low. Add Thickenthin to the soup, stirring with a whisk until the broth begins to thicken somewhat. If thicker chowder is desired, whisk in another 1 to 2 teaspoons of thickener.
6. Stir in the half and half and the clams.
7. Add the butter and allow it to just melt.
8. Garnish with a teaspoon of reserved bacon bits. Serve immediately.