Recipe - Cockle Chowder

4 pt Cockles, well washed
4 sl Bacon, chopped
1 ounce Butter
1 Spanish onion, chopped
3 Floury potatoes, cubed
Three fourths pt Milk
4 tablespoon Chopped parsley
Freshly ground pepper

Take a large pan with a lid and put a little water in
it to boil. When boiling, toss in the cockles, clap
the lid on and cook 5 mins or so, shaking to cook the
cockles evenly. When they have all opened, tip into a
colander over a bowl. Remove cockles forthwith from
their shells, and spread out to cool quickly. Strain
the liquor carefully to remove and sand.

Meanwhile parboil the potatoes for about 10 minutes,
and in another pan, melt the butter, let the bacon
sizzle in it a moment or two, add the finely chopped
onion, put the lid on and sweat till the onion becomes
transparent. Add the milk, cockle liquor, potatoes and
bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook very
gently till the potatoes are soft but not a total
mush. If you cook too quickly, or the potatoes are not
properly parcooked, the milk will curdle. It isn't
serious, just less attractive.

Chop the cockles roughly, add them to the soup, pepper
it and add the parsley. Taste for saltiness, (it
shouldn't need any as the bacon and cockles are both
naturally salty.

Serve with ships biscuits, which you can break into
the chowder. Water biscuits or crackers will
substitute.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini