Kräftig Beer Cheese Soup

I enjoy making soup and find that few people will turn soup away.  Of course, the trick is to match up the right soup with the right people.  A chilled cucumber soup would not be something I’d serve to a mixed crowd during a sporting event.  No.  So when the Super Bowl arrived, along with this recipe by email from Tasting Table, I knew I had to try it.  I pumped up nutrition (as much as one can in a soup that consists of beer and cheese) and taste, by adding extra ingredients.  We all enjoyed it very much.  Here is my version.

 

Kräftig Beer Cheese Soup

Adapted from Tasting Table

1½ cups whole milk

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons canola oil

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

3 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 shallots, chopped

1 small Melissa’s fennel bulb, sliced

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 dried bay leaf

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup Kräftig Lager beer, room temperature

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3/4 pound sharp cheddar, coarsely grated

¼ cup Parmigianino, grated

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled (for garnish)

Fennel sprig (for garnish), optional

In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine milk and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to low to keep the mixture warm.

In a soup pot set over medium heat, add the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter.  Heat until butter is melted, and swirl with the oil to incorporate the two.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, shallots, fennel, garlic and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes.

Slowly pour in the warm milk-broth mixture, whisking constantly to avoid forming lumps. Whisk in the beer and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently and monitoring the heat so the soup simmers but doesn’t boil (boiling causes the soup to separate). Remove the bay leaf and stir in the Worcestershire sauce. While stirring constantly, gradually add the cheeses, salt, and pepper.

Using an immersion blender, blend soup to desired consistency.  I like my soup a little chunky, so didn’t continue to blend until it was completely smooth.  Control is the beauty of the immersion blender.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls and serve topped with the fennel tops and bacon.

This post is linked to: 

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Foodie Friday

Tarragon Creamed Corn

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I subscribe to a lot of foodie newsletters.  One of my favorites is Tasting Table because of the unique recipes they post, as well as interesting bits about new restaurants, wine pairings, places to dine while on the road, AND they have an app!  I LOVE apps!

I discovered this recipe in a recent TT newsletter.  As I’m still cooking for my dad while my mom is working her little heart out in rehab, and since I didn’t scare him away with last week’s purple potatoes, decided to give this tarragon-infused creamed corned a try.  If you’re anything like me, the creamed corn of your youth (and seriously, how many adults would eat that stuff?) was not a whole lot more than insipid lumpy mush in a can.  This recipe is going to change the way you feel about creamed corn.  It will come out of the deep, dark, depths of your pantry onto the elegant dining table you’ve set for guests.  Dad, a.k.a. Mr. Meat-and-Potatoes, deemed it “excellent,” and I have to agree.  I did lighten up my version by using whole milk in place of the cream, and substituted same for half of the water.

Tarragon Creamed Corn

Adapted from Andrew Ticer & Michael Hudman, Hog & Hominy, Memphis, TN 

Yield: Serves 4

Cook Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 large ears corn--husked, kernels sliced off and cobs reserved*

1 cup heavy cream (I used whole milk)

1 cup water (I used 1/2 c. water & 1/2 cup whole milk)

2 sprigs fresh tarragon plus more to garnish

½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan set over high heat, bring the corn cobs, cream, water and tarragon to a boil. Turn off the heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Use tongs to remove and discard the cobs.

In a medium saucepan, add the corn kernels and strain the cob-infused cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve over the kernels. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the corn is tender and plump, about 10 minutes.

Using a blender, purée one-third of the corn mixture with the Parmigiano-Reggiano until smooth, then return the mixture to the saucepan with the corn. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm.

*If you don’t have a Corn Zipper, hop on over to Amazon and get one, now!  It makes amazingly short work of extracting kernels from the cob.  Once you get one of these you’ll find yourself making good use of all of the seasonal corn when it’s available in your area in soups, chowders, stews, breads, creamed, or sliced right from the cob and lightly buttered.

Coca-Cola Cake

Call me crazy, but I subscribe to a lot of foodie newsletters.  It’s not that I don’t have piles of cookbooks and magazines in which to search for recipes, no, I have to add to the confusion with newsletters.  Tasting Table is but one of the many, and last week the featured recipe for Coca-Cola Cake made me sigh.  It was one that I enjoyed back in the 70s, and while I still had the recipe for the icing in my battered recipe box, the cake recipe had long disappeared. It’s a classic Southern layer cake with a unique texture.  I followed the recipe exactly, down to the mini marshmallows in the center, but I’d eliminate them the next time.

Coca-Cola Cake

Recipe adapted from Lee Gregory, The Roosevelt, Richmond, VA

INGREDIENTS

Cake

1½ sticks plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons natural cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup Coca-Cola

¼ cup whole milk

2 large eggs

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

½ cup natural cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup whole milk or heavy cream

1½ cups mini marshmallows (optional)

Chocolate curls or grated chocolate (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Set a 9-inch cake pan on top of a piece of parchment paper. Using the bottom of the cake pan as a guide, trace a circle on the paper with a pen or pencil. Cut out the circle and set aside. Repeat so you have two parchment circles. Use 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease two 9-inch cake pans, then place the parchment circles in the pans. Turn the parchment over so the greased side faces up.

2. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the remaining 1½ sticks of butter with the sugar on medium speed until light and airy, about 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt and set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk together the Coca-Cola and milk.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter-sugar mixture, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer to low and alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients in three batches, starting and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until just combined. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Place the cake pans in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

4. Remove the cakes from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

5. Make the frosting: In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder. Turn off the mixer and add the sugar-cocoa mixture, then combine on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and add the vanilla, salt and milk. Mix for 3 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.

6. Remove the cooled cakes from the pans, peel off the parchment and place one layer on a serving tray or cake stand. Spoon and spread about one-quarter of the icing on top of the first layer, sprinkle with half of the marshmallows (if using), then top with the second cake layer. Use the rest of the icing to frost the top and sides of the cake (or just frost the top of the cake, as shown) and finish with the remaining marshmallows (if using), then garnish with chocolate curls or grated chocolate (if using).

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Foodie Friday

Sweets for a Saturday