Oyster Chowder

I was wanting to make some clam chowder for supper, but don't have any canned clams right now. I do, however, have lots of canned oysters, so decided to use those instead! Here are the oysters from one can and I sliced each of them into 4 pieces. Reserve the liquid from the can.



Scrub and cube 4 medium potatoes. Put them into a heavy kettle and add 1 small diced onion and 2 cups of chopped celery (mine came out of the freezer.) Add 2 cups of chicken broth, bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.



Next, add 1/3 cup butter, the liquid from the can of oysters, 1.5 teaspoons salt and 2 cups of water. ( I used unsalted butter, so if yours is salted, you might want to add less salt.)
Bring that to a boil and slowly stir in 1 cup of whole milk into which you have mixed 1/2 cup unbleached white flour. Cook until it is nice and thick, stirring constantly. Gradually add more water to make it as thick or thin as you like.

Add 1.5 teaspoons of salt and several cranks of pepper.



Just when it is done, stir in the oyster pieces. They are very soft, so you don't want to cook them very much at all.

It is delicious!