Beer Cheese Soup with Schlafly's No. 15

*brushes the dust off*

Well. I certainly chose a kick ass recipe to come back with. Tonight's recipe comes from Betty Crocker. As I've said before I've got a love/hate relationship with Betty. However, tonight she won a little more of my heart with this amazing soup.

Beer Cheese Soup Recipe

• 1/2    cup butter or margarine
• 1 1/2    medium carrots, finely chopped (3/4 cup)
• 1    medium stalk celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1    small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
• 3    cups Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)
• 1    cup Original Bisquick® mix
• 1/8    teaspoon pepper
• 1/8    teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
• 1    cup milk
• 4    cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (1 lb)
• 1/2    cup regular or nonalcoholic beer

Directions

1. In 4-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and onion; cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender.
   
2. In large bowl, mix broth, Bisquick mix, pepper and red pepper until smooth. Gradually stir into vegetable mixture. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil and stir 1 minute.
   
3. Stir in milk and cheese. Heat until cheese is melted. Stir in beer.

Akari's Musings

I didn't do much to change the recipe, honestly. I can get a package of four snack pack baby carrots for less than a dollar, so I used those instead of the medium carrot. I left the cayenne pepper out because I am not a big fan of heat. For the cheese, I got a bag of triple cheddar blend from Kraft and just regular store brand sharp cheddar. And nestled in there is the crown jewel of this recipe: a gorgeous bottle of Schlafly's No. 15.

 

I decided not to stand there and try to chop baby carrots. In hind sight, I should have used half as many carrots and split them down the middle, but the whole ones made a pretty presentation. I cubed up the butter rather than just chucking a whole stick into the pan. Crazy, right? The veggies smelled so good while they were cooking. Since I was using low sodium chicken broth and unsalted butter, I gave it a couple turns of the salt grinder and let it cook down. Since this was the longest step, I tossed the biscuits into the oven to bake.

I was worried about a lack of flavor so in the roux, I added a couple sprinkles of garlic powder and about a 1/4 teaspoon of cumin along with the fresh ground pepper. I got to this point and couldn't handle it anymore. I popped open a second bottle of the No. 15. I love this beer. I don't know anything about the fancy mechanics of beer like my friend JP, but I know what tastes good and this beer is yummy.

It took about 15 minutes for the carrots to cook to tender crisp. See what I mean about needing to cut them in half? Or I'll try to dice them with my Slap Chop! I added in the roux and gave everything a good stir. I made the mistake of turning my back for a second to do a little bit of clean up. This puppy came to a boil and thickened REALLY quick.

I took it off the heat to add the cheese and the milk. It saved it from scorching on the bottom, but I think it helped cool the soup off too fast. At this point I was about half way through my beer and the crappy day I'd had at work was far behind me. The soup on it's own smelled heavenly. I snuck a quick taste and the three cheese blend was a fantastic idea. The white cheddar added a bite and creaminess that I wasn't really expecting.

Yes, I'm aware the recipe called for only a HALF a cup of beer...but it was room temp at this point and nobody likes warm beer. Except the Irish and they're CRAZY. I wasn't going to drink this one, so I just poured the remainder into the measuring cup. I took this picture to show off the pretty color of this beer. Some one said that No. 15 reminded them of apple pie. I'm not sure what kind of apple pie THEIR grandma bakes, but I don't really apple pie. I get more of a citrus flavor and the smell takes me back to when I lived in Cedar Rapids. (Mmm...beer and doughnuts...lol)

I added the beer and stirred to combine everything. I almost shed a tear when I poured that No. 15 into that pot, but what saved me was the fact that it was going to flavor my delicious cheesy goodness.

Why, yes, I did drink the rest of my beer with my beer soup. I am totally in love with this recipe. I know James wasn't crazy about it. He said he liked it but he wouldn't be requesting it. The soup is incredibly filling, which surprised me. There's not a scrap of protein in the entire pot. Ooh. I bet some crumbled bacon would be fantastic as a garnish. The beer isn't overwhelming, even though I doubled the amount. The cheese melted nicely, which also surprised me. Most cheeses aren't designed to melt...unless it's Velveeta and that's barely edible much less cheese.

This is definately going into the make it again binder.

Stay tuned for some amazing recipes this week. James got a job finally so I feel like I can really get into the spirit of this blog.

Good night and happy eating!