Manhattan "Clam" Chowder (or stew)

When I told my sister, the English major about this recipe, she got quite upset about it. At first I wasn't sure if it was the Mai Tai talking, or the"Manhattan" part of it. We're from New England, so maybe she was offended and worried that I'd strayed after being in New Jersey so long. After a bit more animated words, she explained that the issue was actually with the word "chowder". (Sounds like another never-ending debate similar to "sauce" vs "gravy", or "pork roll" vs "Taylor Ham".) She's on the side that a chowder must contain milk or cream. I can't argue. I agreed I'd call it a stew. Since it is based off of a traditional "Manhattan Clam Chowder" recipe, I didn't want to confuse people or make it sound like something else. So call it what you want. 
To further confuse the issue, I used mushrooms in place of the clams to make it a vegan recipe. 

Ingredients
2 cups Shimeji, or Beech Mushrooms, chopped into 1" pieces
3 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into cubes
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 qt Spicy Mushroom Soup
1 Tbsp Olive Oil/Butter of choice
28oz can tomato puree or blended whole tomatoes
bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste if needed
3 Fresh Thyme sprigs
​Parsley for garnish

1. Place a Dutch Oven over med-hi heat.
Add mushrooms and 1-2T of the broth or soup stock.
The mushrooms will begin to shed their moisture, and when it's evaporated (about 3 minutes), add your oil or butter of choice and continue to sautee mushrooms for another 3 minutes. 
This trick allows for the mushrooms to release their moisture while preventing them from sticking to the pan. It eliminates the need to keep adding oil as they absorb it so aggressively!

2. Add the chopped onions, celery, carrots, pepper and potatoes and sautee another 3 minutes or so.
​3. Add garlic and stir another 1 minute or so until fragrant.
4. Lower heat and add tomato and soup stock.
5. Add thyme sprigs and bay leaf. We also threw in some astragalus root sticks for an immune booster.
6. Bring to a boil
7. Lower to a simmer, cover and simmer 30 minutes or so, or until potatoes are cooked through.

I took a picture with the clock in it, so I'd remember what time it started and have a good idea how long it simmered. I failed to capture a picture of the finished pot. I'll work on this. It's so much better to cook with a glass of wine or a cocktail and with a friend. Things get away sometimes.

Add salt and pepper if needed. Ours didn't need much since the soup stock we used has soy sauce and spices already added. If you can't get some of our stock, you might want to add hot pepper flakes as well. Keep in mind the potatoes really mellow things out.
Garnish with some fresh chopped parsley if you're not one of those people who don't like parsley. 

This recipe served 2 very hungry people with a grilled cheese on the side, and 2 servings to 1 more person who decided not to share with person number 4 because it was so good!