Beer & Cheese are Perfect Lovers

Let me just start by saying that I will never make apologies for using real butter in any of my cooking.  Butter from grass fed, sustainably raised cows has a rightful spot in our healthy diets.  Because I’m just posting a quick recipe for this soup at the request of a few of my friends I won’t go into great detail about my complete endorsement of real butter , but if you need justification beyond the fact that it wasn’t created in the last 50-100 years (when coincidentally our health has taken a serious nosedive) please read more about the beauty of butter and cheese in one of my favorite books, Real Food by Nina Planck. You’ll never make an apology for real food again.

Certain relationships just seem to be made for monogamy.  Cheese and beer are not one of them.  The affair of cheese and beer is a torrid one since both of these ingredients are shameless sluts in the food world; and it’s completely forgivable considering the absolute perfect match they make as individual ingredients to a long list of players.  Still, this match of beer and cheese is like Meg and Tom.  You can watch them in other roles, but together…sappy magic!

serve it with toasted rye and bratwurst skewers

My favorite recipe for beer cheese soup comes from one of my favorite food mags, Cuisine at Home.

Here’s the dirty little secret…

1 cup finely minced onion
1/2 cup finely minced celery
1/2 cup minced carrot
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
5 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 bottle German lager
3 cups low-sodium organic chicken broth
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco (or more if you’re super crazy like me)
1 cup whole milk
1 lb grated sharp cheddar
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Kosher or salt & pepper to taste

Cook the onion, celery, and carrot in butter in a large pot over low heat until the veggies are tender but not brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour, paprika, and mustard. Increase the heat a bit and cook the flour taste out for about a minute or so. Add the beer and simmer it all until it thickens up. Add the broth, Worcestershire, and Tabasco, stirring constantly. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer another 5 minutes.

Add the milk, Cheddar and cream cheese, stirring constantly until the soup is smooth. It’s very important that you don’t let the soup boil after adding the milk and cheese or it may curdle. Stir in your parsley, taste it and then season it all up with salt and pepper.

This is a great after school snack served in a mug with one sammie skewer. Or, in a big soup bowl with two or three skewers and a salad for dinner.

Tagged as: beer, butter, cheese, real food