mandarin2j
11-21-2002, 11:32 AM
The other day, I was making the Beer Cheese Bread from CL Complete, and it was so nasty and blustery outside that I decided to use the rest of the beer for a nice creamy Beer Cheese Soup. Back when I was a waitress, the restaurant I worked at served it every Monday; whenever I'd bug the chef for the recipe, he'd tell me he used the cheapest beer he could find, along with processed cheese. I never really took him seriously, because the flavor was just too good for cheap ingredients, right? Back to Saturday; I went through my cookbooks until I found a recipe, but the first ingredient made my eyes pop out-a whole stick of butter! :eek: So I paged through CL Complete until I found a formula for a lighter roux. Here's my lightened version of Beer Cheese Soup, with only 36% of calories from fat (pretty amazing, considering the key ingredient!). It's just as creamy and delicious as the restaurant version, but with so much less fat & calories that I don't feel guilty eating it. The beer (and yes, I used the cheap stuff) added just the right note of sharpness to the dish. I will be making this again for sure!
2 tbs. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 cups heated nonfat milk
4 cups lowfat chicken broth (or vegetarian broth)
8 ounces Velveeta light, cut into 1-inch square chunks
11 oz. flat cheap light beer
Melt butter until bubbly over medium heat in a medium stockpot. Mix in flour and brown (about one minute). Gradually add heated milk to the flour mixture, whisking until mixture is smooth and thickened. Add broth and cheese to mixture, stirring to avoid clumps. Once cheese is melted, reduce heat to simmer and add beer. Simmer for 20 minutes, season to taste with salt & pepper and serve.
I forgot to bring the MasterChef stats with me, but I'll try to edit those in tomorrow.
-Amanda
Edit: Here's that nutrition info.
287 Calories; 12.1 g fat (36 % calories from fat); 7.7 g saturated fat; 47 mg cholesterol; 25.8 g protein; 1544 mg sodium; 1.3 g dietary fiber.
2 tbs. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 cups heated nonfat milk
4 cups lowfat chicken broth (or vegetarian broth)
8 ounces Velveeta light, cut into 1-inch square chunks
11 oz. flat cheap light beer
Melt butter until bubbly over medium heat in a medium stockpot. Mix in flour and brown (about one minute). Gradually add heated milk to the flour mixture, whisking until mixture is smooth and thickened. Add broth and cheese to mixture, stirring to avoid clumps. Once cheese is melted, reduce heat to simmer and add beer. Simmer for 20 minutes, season to taste with salt & pepper and serve.
I forgot to bring the MasterChef stats with me, but I'll try to edit those in tomorrow.
-Amanda
Edit: Here's that nutrition info.
287 Calories; 12.1 g fat (36 % calories from fat); 7.7 g saturated fat; 47 mg cholesterol; 25.8 g protein; 1544 mg sodium; 1.3 g dietary fiber.