Month: September 2011

Wisconsin Style Beer Cheese Soup

We recently had a beer and sake tasting party – where everyone brought their favorite to be sampled. I thought that beer cheese soup would be the perfect food to go with the beer.


I started by melting butter in my soup pot (yeah, this is not a healthy soup).


Next I added diced onion, celery, and carrot.


I wanted the soup to be smooth – with no chunks of vegetables. So after the vegetables were soft, I pureed them with a stick blender.


Next I added flour to make a roux, and cooked the rawness out.


Then I added the stock, beer, half and half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire.


Finally, I added the cheese – a combo of cheddar and swiss.


The result was a smooth, decadent soup with a bit of a tang.

Beer Cheese Soup
adapted from Food Network
Serves 8-10

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 chopped medium sized yellow onion
3/4 cup chopped carrot
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 (12-ounce) beer of choice (I used Sam Adams)
7 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, shredded
7 oz processed Swiss cheese, shredded
2 cups half-and-half
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Saute until softened. Puree with a stick blender.

Add flour. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add chicken broth and beer. Heat until it comes to a boil. Add half-and-half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.

Slowly add cheese while stirring until just boiling and smooth. Reduce heat to low and cook until soup has thickened.

CSA Week 14

Oops! I forgot to take a picture of the crate this week, so I took some pictures of individual produce.


Red and yellow onions.


Peaches and tomatoes (some of the tomatoes were already rotten and I had to throw them out).


Corn.


Bell peppers (I had already sliced them up for a party snack).


Eggplant – the small ones were from the week before, the large one was from this week.


Apples and nectarines.


Pears. (more…)

The Much Anticipated Vegas 2011 Post

Every year, Jasper attends a pair of conventions in Las Vegas and I like to tag along. He attends lectures while I lounge by the pool, indulge in a spa, or go shopping. Afterwards, we meet up and head out to eat at one of Vegas’s many excellent restaurants. I could write volumes about hotels and shows and sightseeing, but here it is all about the food.

I’ll begin with the casual restaurants inside Caesar’s Palace, where we stayed (and which I recommend – one of the best pools on the strip, the best spa, and some of the best shopping).

Payard Patisserie


Photo courtesy royallyflushed.com

This bakery and pastry shop was my first stop of the day, every day. With a design that looks like Willy Wonka’s factory and a clock that spits out free truffles every hour, this place is a chocolate lover’s dream.


Photo courtesy royallyflushed.com

The pastry case is magnificent and filled with artful delicacies that are almost too pretty to eat… almost. (more…)