Cheddar Ale Soup
Ingredients:
2/3 cup diced white onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
8 cups beef broth
10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) ale (such as
3/4 pound ground beef
Hamburger seasoning of choice (see tester's note)
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon paprika
Salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Yield: 10 (1 cup) servings
Cooking Instructions:
1. In a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat, sauté onions and garlic in butter until onions are translucent.
2. Whisk in flour, 1/4 cup at a time, to form a roux. Gradually whisk in broth and ale; whisk until smooth, then reduce heat to a simmer.
3. While soup simmers, brown beef in a large skillet, chopping the meat into small bits as it cooks. When about half cooked, stir in hamburger seasoning. Finish browning; drain well. Stir seasoned hamburger into soup.
4. Gradually stir in cheese, allowing each addition to melt completely. Stir in paprika, salt to taste and pepper and cook 5 minutes more; taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with parsley.
Tester's note: Use whatever seasoning for the hamburger that you would normally add if grilling or frying burgers. I like to use a combination of Worcestershire sauce, McCormick seasoned salt, onion powder and "grill seasoning" for steak. Alternately, about 3 tablespoons of a favorite steak sauce makes for a quick spice-up.
Cheddar Ale Soup is avalable in Fletcher's Kitchen and Tap restaurants in Missouri and Illinois:
Fletchers’s Kitchen & Tap
384 Crestwood Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63126
314. 961.BEER
And
6101 West Main
Belleville, Il 62223
618. 239.3317
fletcherskitchen.com
