Yield: 6 servings.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
3 cups seafood stock
1 cup water
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 pound cod, catfish, or halibut fillets, cut into chunks
1 cup whole milk
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Hot sauce (optional)
Celery leaves (for garnish)
Melt butter in a 5-quart stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic, and cook, stirring, until onion is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add green onions and stir.
Stir flour into the vegetable mixture until vegetables are evenly coated. Pour clam juice, stock, and water into the saucepan; whisk until smooth. Add potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and cayenne pepper to the mixture. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Place fish into the soup. Cover soup pot and cook until fish is flaky, about 8 minutes, depending on type of fish used.
Pour milk into the soup and stir. Simmer soup until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Remove bay leaf to serve. Add hot sauce, if desired, and garnish with celery leaves.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
