This corn and mushroom chowder with clams recipe is a simple and delicious one pot meal. All of the vegetables are fresh and the butter and cream are grass fed for best nutrition. I usually use canned chopped clams but fresh clams work just as well. Leave out the clams and juice for a vegetarian chowder. If you eat vegan, this recipe should also work well using coconut or almond milk(but will probably need arrowroot to thicken it a little). This is a good recipe for any healthy whole food diet.
Start with 2 tablespoons of grass fed butter in a 2 quart sauce pan. Melt the butter over low heat.
While the butter is melting, dice 1/2 cup of red bell pepper and slice 1/2 cup of leek. Add to the pot when the butter is completely melted and stir often.
While the pepper and leek cook, strip the leaves and silk from 2 whole ears of corn.
Cut the corn off the cobs. There should be 1 1/2-2 cups of cut corn. Add the corn to the pan when the pepper and leek is about half cooked.
Slice about 1/3 cup each of button and shiitake mushrooms and separate the same amount of oyster mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the pot.
When the mushrooms and corn are getting soft, add one 6 1/2 ounce can of chopped clams and the juice to the pan.
Cut 7-8 fresh large sweet basil leaves into very thin strips(chiffonade) and add to the pot.
Add 3/4 cup of heavy cream to the pot.
Bring the pot back to a low simmer and add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. simmer 10 minutes to meld all of the flavors before serving.
For a thicker and smoother chowder, run the cut corn in a food processor and add with the clams and clam juice. Arrowroot powder can be used to thicken the chowder if desired. This is a rich recipe with the butter and cream and I prefer it un-thickened.