Erica De Mane

Recipe below: Manhattan Clam Chowder, My Way

As a kid and young adult I spent many odd hours at diners on Long Island and in Manhattan, 3 a.m., 3 p.m., hanging with my sister and my now deceased friend Scott, maybe Barbara, too, eating clam chowder, because that’s what I used to eat at a diner, getting that specific taste of industrial clam juice, canned clam bits, and dried oregano, hitting acrid and salty on my tongue. I used to order chowder all the time, after school, or after clubbing. I don’t think I ever ate it anywhere other than at a diner. I didn’t even particularly like it. It was just a habit, like biting my cuticles. Manhattan clam chowder wasn’t a fine restaurant dish, even in Manhattan (maybe it was in the days of Delmonico’s, where the soup evidently partly originated). But at a good seafood place you could order a chowder with what was considered more dignity—New England clam chowder.

I like the rich New England version, thick and white, but it’s sort of foreign to my Italian American palate. In Manhattan we swapped out the cream or milk for tomatoes, a variation that came from Portuguese and Italian immigrant cooking. I hadn’t thought about New York chowder in a while, and I don’t see it on diner menus so often these days, but I found that I missed it, so I decided to make some myself and give it a more appealing edge.

I dropped the green pepper and dried oregano and added instead roasted red pepper and fresh marjoram. So the whole thing became sweeter and rounder. I opened the clams in dry Marsala and used that liquid as the soup base.  This really can be a fine soup when you make it with thought.

Manhattan Clam Chowder, My Way

(Serves 4 or 5)

5 dozen littleneck clams, on the small side, well cleaned
1 cup dry Marsala
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ pound pancetta, cut into little cubes
1 leek, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, plus the leaves, chopped
2 carrots, cut into small dice
2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
1 roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 fresh red peperoncino, chopped
½ teaspoon ground allspice
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, or not, and cubed
A few big thyme sprigs, the leaves chopped
6 or 7 marjoram sprigs, the leaves chopped
1 fresh bay leaf
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with the juice
4 cups of light chicken broth
Salt, if needed
A handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, lightly chopped

Put the clams in a big pot, pour on the Marsala, and cook them over high flame, partially covered, stirring them around a few times until they open. As they open, lift them from the pot into a bowl, using tongs. Let them cool until you can pull them out of their shells. When they’re out of their shells (discard the shells), leave them whole if they’re small. Bigger ones you can roughly chop. Give them a drizzle of olive oil. Strain the cooking juice, and pour it into a small bowl.

In a big soup pot, heat a drizzle of olive oil and the butter over medium flame. Add the pancetta, and let it crisp up. Add the leek, onion, celery plus leaves, and carrot, and sauté until softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, the roasted pepper, the peperoncino, and the allspice, and let it all cook another minute or so. Add the potatoes, the thyme, the marjoram, and the bay leaf, and sauté a minute more. Now add the tomatoes, the chicken broth, and the reserved clam broth. Cook at a gentle bubble, uncovered, until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, and add the chopped clams. Let sit for about 5 minutes, so all the flavors can blend. Now taste for salt. If your clams are very salty, you might not need any. Add a drizzle of fresh olive oil and the parsley, and serve. This chowder is excellent with bruschetta brushed with olive oil and fresh garlic. Dip the bruschetta in the broth.