Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Cheesefare Week: Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl

Gosh, I'm bloggy today! I just found What I'm Cooking Now and was inspired to also post recipes from Lent.

But first comes Cheesefare. In the Orthodox church, we ease ourselves into Lent. First we have Meat Fare (which, as vegetarians, we don't observe), and then a week where we can eat as much cheese, eggs, and dairy as we can.

This recipe is one of our traditional Cheese Fare week's recipes. I now use a recipe for bread dough from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, an all whole wheat bread, and just use about a half a loaf's worth for each bread bowl. Shape into a tight round and place on a greased cookie sheet to rise and bake. After it's baked and cooled, cut off the top and scoop out the inside, being careful not to get too close to the outside wall.

But you can use white bread dough, even the store-bought kind.

Here's the soup recipe:

Cheese Soup

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup beer
2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon tabasco sauce
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese


In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sautee vegetables until tender. Add flour, stirring constantly until flour is no longer raw. Reduce heat; stir in beer, worchestershire sauce, salt, mustard, and tabasco. Simmer 10 minutes. Add cheddar and parmesan cheese and stir until melted; do not boil. Ladle into bread bowls and serve.


I had sprouting purple broccoli from our CSA and I used that instead of celery. It was good, but it made it more like broccoli cheese soup instead of just cheese soup.

1 comment:

Mimi said...

Oooh, that looks lovely!

I'm with you, Meatfare isn't something I observe (and is usually a not much to eat for me coffee hour), although this year there was a lovely vegetarian Greek Salad.