This weekend was fabulous. I spent the whole time at home with Mr GFB, we weren’t booked in anywhere, visiting anyone and the most adventurous we got was a trip into Chorlton to buy cheese and beer.
I took the opportunity to do some cooking. Probably a little too much, but at least I made sure there was food in the house for the entire week. And then some.
One of the recipes I played with was cheese and beer soup, I’m really not sure why it popped into my head, we didn’t have a surplus of either in the house, but once the idea appeared it was lodged there and there was no moving it, even though it necessitated a visit to Hickson & Blacks.
I automatically assumed this soup was from the USA and admittedly, the recipe I played with is American, but the soup itself originates in Europe and was often eaten as breakfast.
One word of warning, if you’re not a beer fan, you may not find it quite to your taste – there is a bitterness from the hops that comes through, but it goes really well with the cheese and I loved it with a nice bit of home made bread. Heaven.
Cheese & Beer Soup Ingredients: 1 medium onion diced2 medium carrots (around 100-150g)
3 sticks of celery (around 100-150g)
60g plain flour 100g butter 500ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock if preferred)
330ml beer (pale ales are great, we used Red Willow’s Wreckless)
200 grams of strong cheddar
100 grams of smoked cheddar
500 ml whole milk
2 teaspoons of grain mustard 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg Optional: Smoked sausage, or salami cubed and fried for garnish. Time: Takes around 20 minutes Serves: 4 at least. Depends on the appetite! Method:
First up is frying the veggies, so melt the butter in the pan and add the chopped vegetables and saute until softened.
Once soft, it’s time to make the roux, so add the flour and stir until it’s all combined
Slowly add the beer and milk and chicken stock (order is up to you) until all combined. Don’t worry if the mixture looks overly thick initially, it will come together and thin out.
Stir often and keep on the heat til it comes to the boil. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes, still stirring, until it thickens.
Reduce the heat and start to add the cheeses, mustard and nutmeg. Stir until all the cheese has combined, and check the seasoning.
In a separate pan, fry off the sausage until crisp and then serve.
Eat with plenty of crusty bread, and leftover beer!
