Cheddar-andbeer soup

Serves 4–6 Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 20 minutes

This is a thick and creamy soup. After you’ve had the last spoonful, you can eat the bread roll you served it in, too!

You need

• 60 ml butter • 1 long celery stalk, finely chopped • 1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped • 1 small onion, finely chopped • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed • 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped • 60 ml flour • 250 ml beer (I used lager) • 250 ml chicken stock • 1 bay leaf • 7,5 ml cumin seeds, dry-roasted in a pan • 3 sprigs of thyme • salt and black pepper • 125 ml cream • 125 ml milk • 650 ml grated white cheddar • 2 big, round loaves of bread or 6 round bread rolls • 4 chives, chopped • 6 strips of bacon, fried until crisp

Here’s how

1 Melt the butter in a big pot and sauté the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and jalapeños until soft. Add the flour and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until the flour turns brown. 2 Remove the pot from the heat and add the beer little by little. Keep stirring to prevent lumps from forming. When you’ve added all the beer, return the pot to the stove. Add the stock, bay leaf, cumin seeds and thyme. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. 3 Remove the bay leaf and thyme.

Add the cream and milk and blitz with a stick blender until the soup is smooth. 4 Heat the soup until it’s hot throughout, but don’t let it boil. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted. 5 Cut the top off the loaf and hollow it out to make a bread bowl – make sure the sides aren’t too thin or the soup will seep out. Pour the soup into the bread bowl and serve with chopped chives and pieces of bacon. Keep the crumb to dip in the soup!