INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp light butter
3 ribs of celery
1/2 cup diced white onion, about one medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed white pepper or black pepper
1/2 tsp old bay seasoning
1 tsp fresh thyme, about 4 sprigs, or 1/2 TSP dried
1 tbsp flour
8 oz bottle of clam juice
2 cups milk of choice, we used fat-free milk
1 can of clams, 6.5 oz
1.5 lbs baby gold potatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
DIRECTIONS
Chop the celery and dice the white onion. Then, cut the potatoes in half and then into quarters.
Add the light butter to your dutch oven or large pot and saute the celery, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, old bay seasoning, and fresh chopped thyme. Cook these ingredients for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and the celery is soft.
Dust the flour on the ingredients in the dutch oven and mix.
Add the clam juice and milk to the dutch oven. Also, drain the juice from the canned clams into the dutch oven, but do not add the clams yet, reserve them for later.
Add the chopped potatoes and bay leaf to the dutch oven. Bring everything to a low simmer. It takes about 10 minutes for everything to start summering. Once it starts simmering, allow another 10 minutes for the ingredients to simmer, or until the potatoes are cooked. You can check if the potatoes are done by inserting a fork. Also, make sure to stir occasionally so the ingredients don’t stick.
Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the bay leaf from the dutch oven. Then, use a potato masher or a stick blender to mash the potatoes in the dutch oven to the desired consistency.
Add the clams to the dutch oven and simmer for 5 more minutes.
When the soup is done, sprinkle some chopped flat-leaf parsley on top and optional soup crackers
