Cheddar Ale Soup

I've been looking for a cheddar ale soup recipe for years. There is a local brew pub that serves a DELICIOUS soup with the most amazing soft pretzel on the planet. This weekend I decided to try out this recipe from Fake Ginger, a blog that I have recently stumbled across and really enjoy! What originally drew me to the recipe was the pretzel bowl...genius! The soup was delicious too :) Pretzel bowl recipe coming soon...

Cheddar Ale Soup

• 1 lb sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup of your favorite beer (we used Capital Brewery's Oktoberfest)
• 4 strips bacon
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (we didn't have any bacon or Worcestershire but I feel like these would've added to the deliciousness!)

Dice bacon and cook in dutch oven until crisp. Discard all bacon and grease except 2 tbsp of the fat. Cook the onions, carrots and celery until soft - about 20 mins. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant. Pour the flour in and mix so the veggies are coated. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the beer and cook for 3 minutes. Add the Worcestershire, milk and broth. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until thickened.

Use an immersion blender (or pour into a regular blender) and puree the vegetables. Take the soup off the heat and add the cheese in batches making sure it all melts. Season with salt and pepper - top with bacon pieces.

CHEERS!

Source: Fake Ginger