Back from my trip and I really did not feel like going to the store. So I used what I had on hand to make a nice seafood chowder (or as my Massachusetts cousins would call it, "chowdah").
Start by rendering three strips of bacon over medium high heat until crisp; remove and drain.
In the slow cooker, on low heat, add three cups of milk and one 8-oz bottle of clam juice.
In the bacon fat, successively brown and add to slow cooker three potatoes (I scrub them, but leave on the skins), coarse diced; three peeled carrots, chunky sliced; three stalks of celery, with tops, chunky sliced.
Dice and sweat one medium onion, and two cloves of garlic, minced. Add to slow cooker. Allow to cook for 3 to 4 hours. Do not allow to boil.
In the final hour of cooking add one 6 to 8 ounce can of clams, with packing juices; one 6 to 8 ounce can of bay shrimp, with packing juices, and about 4 to 8 ounces of a white fish of your choice (I used 6 oz of sole). Season with a dash of sea salt, fresh ground black pepper to taste, a few dashes of cayenne, and a shake or two of nutmeg. When ladling into the soup bowl, garnish with crumble bacon.
That's it!! I served mine tonight with some warm buttered sourdough bread. Not much work, but a lot of warm, comfy goodness.
