Beer Cheese Soup with Garlic Rye Croutons

It's that time of year here in the Upper Midwest. The weather is cooler and the colors on the trees are changing. It's awfully gorgeous out, except for that whole 35 degrees thing this morning when I woke up. YUCK! The worst part is that the husband had to go run marathon #17. That's 26.2 miles people!!! That's quite an accomplishment!

So while he is running his marathon I had a few hours to kill before meeting him at the finish line. Since it was such a cold morning I decided it was time for soup! And not just any soup, but beer cheese soup! Oh and I added garlic rye croutons. Delicious. You can use any kind of crouton you wish, but there is nothing better than homemade croutons and the slight bitterness of the rye goes wonderful with the sharpness of the cheese. So on those cold days where nothing sounds better than a good bowl of rich, yummy soup try this recipe and make your tummy happy!

Beer Cheese Soup

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Butter
4 Tbsp. Flour
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1 12oz. bottle of dark beer (one you would enjoy drinking)
1/4 lb. Vermont Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 lb. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1/4 lb. Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 cup milk or cream
4 cups Vegetable broth or stock
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Pepper

Garlic Rye Croutons

1/2 loaf Rye bread, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Note: Before you start to cook anything make sure you have all your dicing and shredding done as this soup tends to assemble quickly.

Heat the milk/cream and vegetable stock together in a pot. Do not boil as this may cause the milk to curdle.

Heat the oil and melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the carrots, celery, and onions until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add the 1 tsp. of salt and the 1/2 tsp. of pepper. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until completely incorporated. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes.

Add the beer and stir in well, scraping the bottom of the pot to get up all of brown bits off of the bottom (so much flavor there!). Whisk in the milk and stock mixture. Allow this to cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently until it starts to thicken. Using a immersion blender, blend until smooth(or if you don't have an immersion blender you can add small batches to a regular blender and blend til smooth. Don't add too much to the blender or it will expand too much and you will have a big mess!!!) You can omit this step if you like a chunkier soup.

Add the cheese and stir with a whisk until melted. Allow to cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the soup is cooking, toss the rye bread cubes on a cookie sheet with the olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Make sure to coat all the bread cubes well. Put them in a 425 degree oven and let them toast for 10-15 minutes or until brown and crispy.

When the soup is done cooking serve in bowls and top with the croutons. Enjoy!

Note: This soup reheats very well if you don't gobble it all down right away.

White Wine Mussels

As a vegetarian that only eats seafood for her "meat" based protein, I love it! Over the years I have come to love Mussels. A lot of people have an adversion to them, but like almost everyone I know, if you try them you will most likely like them. They are great as a appetizer or if it's just one or two people, serve them with a crusty piece of bread for soaking up all the extra broth like I did for this recipe.

I used white wine to make the broth. You can use almost any white wine you like, however my only two suggestions when choosing a wine to cook with (and this goes for any recipe, just not this one) is to pick a wine that is not too sweet and one that you would be happy drinking. This will make all the difference in your recipe.

Ingredients

1lb. Mussels
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2-3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 bottle of white wine
Large piece of french bread

First, a few things I have learned about mussels over the past few years. The first thing is the MOST important and could save you a trip to the emergency room. When you get your mussels home clean them with a scrub pad in cold water. If you see any mussels with broken shells or that are not fully closed discard them immediately. They are dead and eating them will make you very, very sick. If you get your mussels from a good grocery store (make sure they have a clean seafood counter) or seafood shop you should not have any dead ones in the mix. You will have one or two per pound at the most.

Second, once your mussels have been cleaned and the beards (the seaweed or hairy looking things near the hinge of the mussel) have been removed (most come debearded, but it's always good to double check) add about a quarter of a cup of flour to a large bowl of ice water and soak the mussels in the mixture for an hour or two. This will remove any grit still remaining in the mussels.

Now you are ready to cook them and enjoy!

Heat the oil in a pan (or pot) over medium heat with a tight fitting lid. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the mussels and  then pour the wine over the mussels. Cover with the lid and cook until the mussels open.

Discard any mussels that did not fully open as they are dead and you can get very ill from eating them.

Serve the mussels and the broth in a bowl with the bread to soak up any extra broth. YUM!!!

Hint: Serve the rest of the wine with the mussels. Hey the bottle is open anyway so why not?!

Vermont Cheddar Mac n' Cheese

I am spending a weekend in another kitchen that is not mine. My husband and I are up North at my parents cabin for the weekend. We got up here on Thursday night and I made us Mac n' Cheese for dinner. I'm definately not a fan of the stuff in the blue box and I love using different cheeses to come up with different flavors for Mac n' Cheese. This time I used a 2 year Vermont Cheddar and a Smoked Gouda. It was the perfect blend of sharpness from the cheddar and smokiness from the Gouda. My parents constantly say they can't make good food up North cause they just don't have the means to do it up here, but I beg to differ. I constantly prove them wrong while making yummy, gourmetish dishes for my family.

Vermont Cheddar Mac n' Cheese

1 lb. pasta (rotini, penne, shells, whatever you want to use)
1 small yellow onion, fine dice
2 Cups milk
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1 cup 2 year Vermont Cheddar
1/2 cup smoked Gouda
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta per package directions (preferably al dente). While the water/pasta is boiling shred the cheese. When the pasta is done drain and set a side.

While the pasta is cooking heat the milk in a small saucepan, do not let boil. Also, shred the cheese and set aside.



In the pasta pot add butter and melt. Add onion and cook until translucent. Sprinkle in the flour and stir in incorporate the flour into the butter and onion. Let this cook for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour flavor.



 Add the warmed milk to the onions and stir continuously to prevent burning. When the mixure has thickened add the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pasta to the cheese mixture and stir until pasta is completely covered. Serve immediately and enjoy!!!

Note: If you prefer a baked mac n' cheese double the recipe for the cheese mixture. Once the pasta had been added to the cheese place in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the top of the mac n' cheese with bread crumbs and 2 Tbps of butter, cubbed (as in sprinkle the cubed butter around evenly on top of the bread crumbs, don't mix them together). The butter will help the breadcrumbs brown. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!