creamy clam chowder with bacon and coconut milk, dairy-free and AIP Core

The craving that hits hardest on the elimination phase is not always for something exotic. Sometimes it is a cup of chowder from a diner counter, the kind that came with a sleeve of crackers you no longer eat. This bowl answers that craving on its own terms: the same creamy body, the same warmth, built entirely from foods your protocol allows.

Clams are one of the most iron-dense foods you will cook this week, and iron is what your blood uses to carry oxygen to every tired muscle and every place healing is happening. Fatigue is one of the hardest, least visible parts of this work, and this bowl is doing something about it, one spoonful at a time.

Source the clams and the bacon well, and let a small thank-you cross your mind before the pot goes on the heat. Then build the bowl, sit down, and eat it warm, slow enough that your body can actually use what is in it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped bacon, about 2 slices (check labels)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 2 cups diced white sweet potatoes
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 cans (6.5 oz) chopped clams, drained, juice reserved (choose a brand with no citric acid)
• 13.5 oz can full fat coconut milk (choose a brand with no gums)
• 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
• 1 tbsp water

Method

Set a heavy soup pot over medium heat and add the chopped bacon. Cook it slowly, stirring now and then, until the pieces crisp and the fat renders out, about 5 to 7 minutes. Leave the fat in the pot.

Add the onion, celery, carrot, and diced sweet potato to the bacon fat. Stir to coat, sprinkle in the sea salt, and sweat the vegetables over medium heat until the onion turns soft and translucent, around 6 to 8 minutes.

Pour in the reserved clam juice and the coconut milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, then lower the heat so it bubbles softly. Cook until the sweet potato is fork-tender, roughly 12 to 15 minutes.

Stir the arrowroot starch and water together in a small bowl until smooth, then pour the slurry into the simmering pot while stirring. The chowder will thicken within a minute or two. Fold in the drained clams last and warm them through gently, about 2 minutes. Clams turn rubbery if they boil hard, so keep the heat low. Taste, adjust the salt, and serve warm.

Instant Pot variation

Use the Saute function to crisp the bacon, then sweat the onion, celery, carrot, and sweet potato in the rendered fat. Press Cancel. Add the reserved clam juice and coconut milk and stir, scraping the bottom so nothing sticks. Seal the lid and pressure cook on high for about 4 to 5 minutes (untested, flagged), then quick release. Switch back to Saute, stir in the arrowroot slurry to thicken, and fold in the clams to warm through off the boil.

*Adapted from wendisaipkitchen.com*