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Recipes

Cream of Bacon Soup Experiment

by Cheryl Wolhar - MyVineSpace on November 22, 2009

PICT0101Over the weekend I was challenged by some of my tweeps to come up with a Cream of Bacon Soup recipe. This wasn’t the first time this idea has come up in my [many] conversations about #bacon. The subject even came up once during a winemaker dinner.

I was always threatening to make it and everyone always thought it was a great idea, but somehow I never got around to it.  But this time the challenge was made and I accepted.  The following recipe is my own although I did get some good advice from tweeps  such as, “start with a roux” and pair with a Sauvignon Blanc.  My post begins with a blow by blow description of the process but I provide the full ingredient list with shorter directions at the end.

Here are the wines I served, a 2004 Pezzi King Jane’s Reserve and a 2008 Murphy-Goode The Fume’. Both were were excellent pairings with this rich dish.wine pairingsThe Murphy-Goode was crisp and tart while the Pezzi was smooth and mellow. Both were delicious and we enjoyed them very much.

Start by chopping all the vegetables into small dice and setting aside in a small bowl.PICT0072

Chop the bacon into small dice.PICT0075
Cook bacon in large soup kettle on low heat until barely crisp but not hard.PICT0078
Add vegetable mixture to bacon fat, cover and cook vegetables on low heat until carrots are soft. Add butter to vegetable mixture and brown slightly.PICT0084

Add flour slowly to butter and mix thoroughly.  Cook vegetable/flour mixture until light brown, this will be a somewhat dry, pasty mixture and might form into a ball.

Slowly add broth over medium heat stirring to smooth consistency, simmer slowly for 5 minutes.PICT0087
Puree vegetable/broth mixture until smooth.PICT0091
Add white pepper, cayenne, cream and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.PICT0099
Add the cooked bacon and heat through.
Garnish and serve hot with bread.  I served it with french rolls and everyone was very happy dipping the bread into the soup.  Since the soup was so rich, I served mixed baby greens with baby shrimp as our second course.

Cream of Bacon Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
½ cup carrots – diced small
½ cup celery – diced small
1 large shallot – diced small
3 large cloves of garlic chopped fine (or more)
6 slices thick cut smoked bacon – diced small
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
sliced chives or green onion for garnish

Directions:
1. Cook bacon in large soup kettle on low heat until barely crisp but not hard
2. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and set aside
3. Add vegetable mixture to bacon fat
4. Cover and cook vegetables on low heat until carrots are soft
5. Add butter to vegetable mixture and brown slightly
6. Add flour slowly to butter and mix thoroughly
7. Cook vegetable/flour mixture until light brown, this will be a somewhat dry, pasty vegetable/flour mixture and might form a ball
8. Slowly add broth over medium heat stirring to smooth consistency
9. Simmer slowly for 5 minutes
10. Puree vegetable/broth mixture until smooth
11. Add white pepper and cayenne
12. Add cream and bacon and heat through
13. Serve in bowls, garnish and serve while hot

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Pumpkin Soup

by Cheryl Wolhar - MyVineSpace on October 1, 2009

This is my own pumpkin soup recipe just in time for Thanksgiving. My secret is using “3 kinds of pepper” gives any dish a deep smoky, peppery flavor with a hint of heat.
To really look cool you can serve soup in a large roasted pumpkin shell. That always gets lots of ohhhs and ahhhhs from [...]

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Cajun Gravy

by Cheryl Wolhar - MyVineSpace on September 24, 2009

This is our favorite gravy and I make it every year for Thanksgiving. The spicy flavor goes so well with the Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. I usually serve a crisp, spicy Gewurztraminer with this gravy. This is the only gravy I make for Thanksgiving now and it is a huge family favorite. I used [...]

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Zinfandel Sauce

by Cheryl Wolhar - MyVineSpace on September 18, 2009

I love this sauce with beef or venison. You can also use a bottle of Cab or Pinot if that is what you have on hand. This Christmas I will serve it with my favorite Beef Wellington… yum… I can’t wait!

Ingredients:
6 shallots finely pureed
4 cloves of garlic finely pureed
Olive oil – 3 tbsp
3 tbsp flour
1 [...]

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Cream of Green Chile Soup

by Cheryl Wolhar on August 25, 2009

This is another family favorite and is usually served on Thanksgiving, however, this year I served the Pumpkin Soup which was also a big hit! The best thing about this recipe is that you can use it to make any “cream” soup that you want, i.e. Cream of Broccoli, Cream of Asparagus, etc… Just substitute [...]

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