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.

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Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Foodie Friday

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

It's not that I don't like making lunch, it's just that, for the most part, I don't particularly like lunch food.  Yes, I love a good bowl of soup with a hunk of warm, crusty bread on the side, but there are a lot of days in the week where this is just not an option due to time constraints, inflexible schedules, not to mention low energy, or just plain disinterest.  On these days the sandwich looms ahead.  The sandwich.  My husband probably makes the best sandwich in the world.  He takes great pains to assemble ingredients, knows just which condiment will complement the ingredients the best, and how much of said condiment to use to make it absolutely delicious.  I, on the other hand, am not a great sandwich maker.  I do, however, make an excellent sloppy joe.

This recipe was born out of a longing for a good, hot sandwich that had all of the deliciousness of, dare I say it, my favorite food: the cheeseburger, while at the same time having the smokey zing of barbecue. It is hearty and satisfying, kids and men particularly love it, and it freezes beautifully, so can be made ahead for such food-gobbling events like the Super Bowl.

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, diced fine

1 pound ground chuck

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup beef gravy*

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

4 slices Velveeta cheese

4 hamburger buns, toasted

In a large skillet, melt the butter until the foam subsides.  Add the onion, and cook until transparent.  Stir in garlic, and cook until fragrant.  Add green pepper, cook for two minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

Crumble beef into another large skillet and season with pepper.  Cook over medium high heat until meat is browned and fat is rendered.  Turn out onto paper towel-lined plate and drain throughly.  Add drained beef to vegetable mixture, stir until combined, and return to heat.  Stir in gravy, ketchup, and barbecue sauce, and simmer until liquid is reduced and meat mixture is saucy, but not runny (or to your own taste).

Place scoops of mixture onto the bottom halves of your toasted hamburger buns, dividing evenly.  Top with a slice of cheese and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and gooey.

*If I don't happen to have any leftover gravy from the recent cooking of a roast, I make gravy following the directions on the jar of L.B. Jamison's Beef Soup Base.  For this reason, I do not include salt as one of the ingredients in this recipe.  Reducing the mixture should make it salty enough, but do taste before serving and add additional, if needed.

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