A delicious, full of flavor soup that eats like a meal. Great family dinner! Tastes even better the second day!
Author Yvonne @ StoneGable
Ingredients
8slicesbacon
2large onionchopped
4celery stalkschopped
2/3cupsbaby carrotsdiced
1/2tspsalt
1/2tsppepper
2garlic clovespressed
20ozground beef
3TBSbutter
7TBSflour
2 1/2cupschicken stock
2cupsmilk or half and halfI use half milk and half half and half
2tspWorcestershire sauce
3cupsgood cheddar cheesegrated
2-3dashes of hot sauce
fresh parsleychopped
Homemade croutons
Instructions
Cook bacon in a large dutch oven or stock pot. When the bacon is done and crisp, remove it from the pot and reserve. Crumble when it is cool and set aside.
Remove all but 2 TBS bacon fat from the pot. Add onions, celery, carrots, salt and pepper to the pot and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.Do not brown! Remove the veggies to a large plate and reserve.
Add the ground beef to the dutch oven and cook until there is no more pink. Add the flour and mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Add the veggies back to the pot.
Add the chicken stock, milk and Worcestershire sauce and stir. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil and immediately lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the cheddar cheese, reserving 1/2 cup for toppings. Add 2-3 dashes of hot sauce. Simmer until all the cheese has melted. Stir and serve hot.
While the soup is simmering make the homemade croutons. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
When the oven reaches 400 degrees add 3 TBS butter to a rimmed baking sheet and melt it in the oven. Watch it so it does not burn. Cut unsliced bread (I use sourdough) into cubes. about 1 cup. When the butter has melted remove the baking sheet from the oven, put the bread cubes into the pan and toss with the butter. Bake for 10-15 minutes watching them so they do not burn. The croutons should be golden brown and crisp.
Ladle out the soup and top with shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon, fresh parsley and croutons.
Notes
Use a good block of cheddar cheese and grate it yourself. It will make such a difference in the quality of the soup.