I am ambitious, but not THAT ambitious. I just made a half batch. It still involves A LOT of chopping (onions, green peppers and celery) and dicing (potatoes and carrots). But, as I have said before, I like the zen of chopping and listening to music. It's soothing for me.
Wake me when it's over!
So, this is my Grandpa Jack's recipe. We've been making it for so long, it's like second nature. I don't even need to look at the recipe as I go. He started out with salt pork to get some fat going in the bottom of the pan. I start with a little olive oil, and then toss the onions and peppers into my big red Le Creuset pot!
Aside from the veggies, here are the other ingredients: tomato juice, clam juice, chopped clams (I cheat and used canned. Like I said, again, I am ambitious, but not that ambitious), stewed tomatoes, caraway seeds and thyme. Hot sauce too, but that's still in the refrigerator.
Back to the onions and peppers... looking good...
So now, we add the clam juice (five bottles!):
Thrilling and fascinating. I know. Now, with the stewed tomatoes, they come out looking like this:
Way too big. So get out your kitchen sheers and give them some snips!
When the clam juice gets warm, add in the tomatoes and half the bottle of tomato juice. Heat that up. When it gets warm, add in the diced carrots and potatoes and the chopped celery and clams (drained, but not squeezed dry. I kind of just drain them a bit, but keep some of the juice in them). Add in the spices, too. It's pretty much to taste. I know what it's supposed to taste like, so I can add the caraway seeds and thyme until it's right. Add the hot sauce a few dashes at a time. I use Texas Pete, but whatever your favorite is works just fine.
Now you just keep it on low (right below a simmer) for a couple hours, until the carrots, celery and potatoes are done. Halfway through, you add in the "secret" ingredient. Family lore goes, an extra beer was opened once while the soup was cooking. Rather than waste it, it was poured into the soup. I don't know if it makes a difference in the flavor, but I can say that half a bottle (it is a half batch, after all) of the Frankenstein beer worked just fine.
When all the veggies are tender, get a bowl out and add a couple more dashes of Texas Pete to your serving! Enjoy!!!
LEFTOVERS!!!! And not just the soup, which tastes even better the next day. Leftover veggies. Leftover (extra) potatoes, celery and onion becomes potato salad:
And what to do with the extra tomato juice... hmm.... well, I guess, if you are so inclined, you can mix it with some more Texas Pete, celery salt, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce, oh and some vodka, to make a tasty Bloody Mary! (You can use an extra celery stick to stir, and to scoop out the olives as they get closer to the bottom of the glass.)
The you would think, with 2,127 songs on here, I'd get more of a variety playlist:
Tangled Maroon 5
Why Say Anything Nice? Barenaked Ladies (if you don't, come sit by me...)
I Remember Holding You Boys Club (fine '80s cheese)
Carry That Weight Paul McCartney (LIVE. The tour I saw in ATL with Kara and her parents. AWESOME show.)
You Belong to Me Patsy Cline (Who doesn't love Patsy??)
Mamma Mia ABBA (Here I go again...)
Don't Stop Believing Fucking Journey
End The Cure
99 Red Balloons Nena (I also have 99 Luft Balloons on here.)
Barbie Girl Aqua (Life in plastic, it's fantastic)
Hot Thing Prince
Blackbird Sarah McLaughlin (A Beatles cover, which I am usually against, but she does a really good job.)
Easy Silence Dixie Chicks (In the peaceful quiet you create for me, and the way you keep the world at bay for me.)
World on Fire Sarah McLaughlin (When I interviewed Art Garfunkel, he tipped his hat to Sarah's amazing talent.)
(Keep Feeling) Fascination Human League
Electric Blue Icehouse (Are you hiding somewhere behind those eyes)
Kiss the Bride Elton John (He did once. Kiss his bride. Denial, sometimes, is more than a river in Egypt.)
Walk On U2 (Love is not the easy thing, and the only baggage you can bring is all that you can't leave behind.) (I LOVE YOU BONO!)
Flowers in December Mazzy Star
Red Carpet Massacre Duran Duran
What Does Sex Mean to Me? Human Sexual Response (From the Threesome soundtrack)
Black & White Sarah McLaughlin
Nowhere Fast Fire Inc. (I think this is the song Diane Lane is "singing" when Willam Dafoe kidnaps her in Streets of Fire)
Something About the Way You Look Tonight Elton John
Beast of Burden Rolling Stones
Ruby Tuesday This was on a mix a friend made. I don't know who sings it, but it's not the Stones.
Sink or Swim Bad Lieutenant (A friend turned me on to this song a few weeks ago, and I love it! The lyrics are great, as is the music)
Something to Remember Madonna
Invincible Pat Benatar (Legend of Billie Jean!!!)
Stop Jamelia
Uncle John's Band Grateful Dead (Yeah. I know. I don't know how that got in there either.....)
I'm Still Standing Elton John
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