Smoked Corn, Ham and Crab Chowder

• 5 -7 crab legs, cooked, cleaned, picked through and shells reserved (use your judgement, you want about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of crab)
• 200 g smoked ham, cubed (if you are buying store bought, ask them to cut it all in one thick slice)
• 1 ear of corn, smoked
• 1 beefsteak tomato, smoked
• 1 head garlic, smoked
• 3 shallots, finely diced
• 1 celery rib, finely diced
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo, finely diced plus 1 tsp adobe sauce from can
• 10 ounces bottled clam juice
• 8 cups water
• salt and pepper
• crouton (optional)

1. Put the crab shells and 8 cups of water in a stockpot.
2. Boil it down until you have about 4-5 cups.
3. Strain into another pot, discard the shells and set aside.
4. In the original pot, sweat off your shallot, celery and jalapeno pepper for about 3-4 minutes, until soft.
5. Take your head of garlic and squeeze out all the cloves into the pot.
6. Mix until well combined.
7. Remove the kernals from the ear of corn using a knife and add the corn.
8. Take the tomato in your hand and squeeze it into the pot.
9. Rip the tomato into bite size pieces, discarding the hard core.
10. Add the ham, chipotle, adobe sauce, clam juice and reduced stock.
11. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
12. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
13. Add the crab, mix well.
14. Simmer for another 15 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste.
15. Serve with croutons if desired.

crab, ham, corn, beefsteak tomato, garlic, shallots, celery, adobe sauce from, clam juice, water, salt

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/smoked-corn-ham-and-crab-chowder-261514 (may not work)