Cheddar broccoli soup

This is a very delicious but somewhat labor-intensive soup. It's a pretty small recipe because the soup is very rich and I don't eat it very often. Fortunately, it freezes well. It also multiplies easily.

Makes about four 7 oz. servings.

1.0 oz. clarified butter (2 tbsp.) 1.50 oz. yellow onions, fine dice (half a small onion) 0.75 oz. mushrooms, fine dice (about 3 medium white mushrooms) 0.75 oz. celery, fine dice (about half a stalk) 0.25 oz. garlic, minced (2 cloves) 2.6 oz. broccoli, cut into small pieces and steamed

1.0 oz. flour (about 1/8 cup) 28 fl. oz. chicken stock (or vegetable stock) 2.5 oz. beer (preferable ale, or can substitute dry white wine) 8 oz. grated cheddar cheese 2 tsp. prepared mustard 4 fl. oz. heavy cream (hot) Tabasco sauce Worcestershire sauce Salt Pepper

In clarified butter , sweat the white mirepoix (onions, celery, mushrooms) with the garlic over low heat ("3" on my stove) until the onions are translucent. Do not brown.

Add the flour to make a blond roux. Cook for 12 minutes. Lower heat if necessary to prevent browning.

Add the stock gradually while whisking to remove any lumps. Simmer for 45 minutes. The soup base can be chilled for later use at this point, as well.

Bring the soup base back to a simmer if necessary. Add the beer and cheese and heat the soup gently but do not let it boil. I used Cabot Extra Sharp Vermont Cheddar cheese.

Add the mustard (I like to use Dijon mustard) and hot cream and bring the soup back to a simmer.

Add the cooked broccoli. The broccoli could also be omitted to just make cheddar ale soup.

Add more stock if necessary to adjust the consistency. Season with Tabaso and Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

With the substitution of vegetable stock and vegetarian Worcestershire sauce this recipe is vegetarian. Since cheese and cream are major ingredients, there is no vegan or lactose-free option for this soup. It probably could be modified to be wheat-free by substituting for the flour and substituting wine for beer.

If preparing extra for freezing, put the soup into vacuum bags and rapidly chill . Vacuum seal then freeze.

This recipe is based on the Cheddar Cheese Soup recipe in The Professional Chef, 7th Edition, from the Culinary Institute of America, p. 332.