Rosie Makes A Beer And Cheese Soup, Courtesy Of Evil Shenanigans.

It's been raining solid, all day long, for the past 4-5 days. It's been solid gray. Even though it's not cold outside, it feels like it is inside. I want some soup. And I found it. One of my favorite food bloggers, Kelly, of Evil Shenanigans, recently made Apple Oktoberfest Cheese Soup. I thank you, Kelly, for a delicious soup recipe which, I admit, I tweaked a bit. But I know you'd be disappointed if I didn't tweak.

Here's my version of Kelly's soup. It has onion, carrot, and celery, like Kelly's, and then I added some chopped portabello mushrooms since I had them. Kelly used chicken stock; I used some of my frozen homemade turkey stock. Kelly pureed her soup. I'm a chunky type of gal. That's just the way I roll. And I added my cayenne and paprika-infused oil to the mix. I topped it off with bacon, and served it with toasted baguette slices.

Measure out 5 ounces of cheddar cheese.

And 3 ounces of smoked Gouda.

Ingredients for the soup:
 2 slices bacon, chopped
 4 TB butter
 1 medium onion, sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
 1 celery stalk, chopped
 5-6 Portabello mushrooms, chopped
 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup flour
 1 cup homemade turkey stock
(You can use 1 cup of chicken broth. Except for you, Mar.)
1 cup beer
 1 cup whole milk
 (Whenever a recipe calls for whole milk,
I use 1/2 skim and 1/2 heavy cream
since that's what I have in my fridge.)
 5 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
3 oz. smoked Gouda
Hot sauce, to taste
 For the hot sauce, I used a paprika and cayenne infused oil. Heat spices in a dry pan until smoky, then add oil into pan and heat. Let cool, then pour into squirt bottle and refrigerate. Heat up when ready to use. Destructions: Hee. When Middle Hawthorne was 3 or 4 and fascinated by Captain Comic on my computer, he would always excitedly and breathlessly ask me, "Mama, what are the destructions?" It was a construction of directions and instructions. And he was the only one who could get Captain Comic to fly. I only got as far as the castle. But beautiful views were to be had. Never made it to the end. Remember that, XKT? Good times.

 OK, back to the destructions: In a pot over medium heat, add in the chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon and reserve fat. Add 2 TB butter to pot and when it foams, add in carrot, celery, onion, apple, and salt and pepper. Cook about 3 minutes, then add in dry mustard, smoked paprika, and cayenne. Cook a few more minutes, then add in the minced garlic. Cook about 1 more minute. Add in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to get rid of the raw taste. Reduce heat to low and slowly add in turkey stock, stirring. Add the beer, slowly, constantly stirring. Finally add in the cream/milk, stirring, and allowing to thicken. Bring to a simmer. Lower heat and add in slices of cheese, stirring to melt. Ladle soup into bowl. Top with bacon pieces and squirt in some paprika-cayenne infused oil. Accompany with toasted olive-oiled and buttered baguette slices. This was divine. Let's go to the step by steps.

I had exactly 2 slices of bacon left in my fridge.
 Wish I'd had 4.
But bacon is expensive now.
I usually have bunches of packages of bacon in the freezer.
Now?
 None.
Ain't on sale.
And hasn't been for a long time.

While I was chopping the veggies, I left it up to Mr. Hawthorne to be in charge of the bacon.

Extra crispy I asked for.

And extra crispy is what I got.

Chopped carrot, celery, onion, Portabello mushroom, apple, and garlic.

Add two tablespoons butter to the bacon grease and heat until foamy.

Carrots and celery in.

Onions in.

Shrooms in. Apples in. Cook about 3-4 minutes.

Add in garlic. Here's a Rosie Tip #21: Be careful when sauteeing garlic. You never want to burn garlic. It will impart BITTER to your whole meal. Add the garlic at the end.

Next, the seasonings.

1/2 tsp cayenne flakes

Action shot!

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder I want to ask you something. What does dry mustard powder add to anything? Is there any flavor? I can't figger this out.

Action shot of dry mustard!

Whoot! Smoked paprika.

I'm erring on the side of caution. 1/8 tsp of smoked paprika.

I added in 2 more TB of butter. Medium heat.

Add in the flour.

And cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring. You want to cook the flour. Get out the raw.

Slowly add in your homemade turkey stock. Very slowly. Scraping up from the bottom.

Yeah. I know. Not pretty now. But just wait.

Gradually, pour in the beer.

I love the smell of this right now.

I taste-tested.

And decided it needed some more smoked paprika.

That's the ticket.

I found a leftover end of a Schwann's baguette in the fridge. Drizzled some OO over top.

Toasted the slices, then put a little buttah pat on top.

Add in the milk/cream, slowly. Bring to simmer.

Then add in the cheese. Turn to low heat.

Let the cheese melt. Easily. Slowly. Gently.

Serve with a toasted baguette and paprika-cayenne infused oil. Loved all the flavors here. The apple was a very nice, subtle touch. Thanks again, Kelly. We enjoyed this tremendously.