Beer Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 2 quart chicken broth (homemade, canned or made with bouillon cubes)
- 1 quart half and half
- 3/4 cup margarine or butter
- 2 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1-3/4 cup flour
- 2 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tsp dry oregano leaves, crumbled
- 2 tsp dry basil leaves, crumbled
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2-1/2 lb. processed American cheese , grated
- 1/4 cup chopped pimientos (a small jar)
- 2 12-oz. bottles beer
Instructions
In a large soup pot, bring chicken broth and half and half slowly to a boil. In a large skillet, melt margarine or butter, add onion, celery and carrot and saute over medium heat about 7 minutes, till vegetables are soft but not brown. Stir in flour, mustard, oregano, basil and garlic. (If mixture is just too thick to stir, add a little broth to make it manageable.) Cook and stir for about 5 minutes to remove raw taste from flour. Add skillet mixture to broth mixture and return to a slow boil, stirring to dissolve roux. Stir in cheese about a cup at a time, making sure one batch is melted before adding more. When all cheese is melted, add pimientos and beer. (It will foam up at first!) Heat just to a boil. Makes 1-1/2 gallons. Can be frozen. Improves with age.