Eckert’s Apple Brie Soup

Our classroom staff is busy preparing for our annual event of wine and apple recipes in our Belleville orchard! It is one of my favorite events of the year because our guests have a blast riding the wagon out to the orchard and tasting wines and foods among the apple trees. This year Grafton Winery will be joining us again to serve up one of their special apple desserts too. I can’t wait!

 Every year we change up the recipes and this year I am most excited about serving our Apple Brie Soup with apple slices and our bakery’s Irish Soda Bread. This recipe uses apples in a truly creative way. Brie cheese is a perfect complement to sweet apples and the stock gives the soup nice body. I am also calling for my new favorite heavy cream from a local family-owned dairy called Rolling Lawn. We have recently partnered with Rolling Lawn and I am impressed with the flavor and quality of their dairy products.

 This recipe requires a little extra time to slow cook the ingredients before gradually blending in the broth and cheese. I guarantee if you follow our step-by-step instructions and recommended cooking times, you will have yourself a soup that will steal the show! I can’t wait to see what our guests think about it tomorrow night!

Eat well this fall, Angie

Eckert’s Apple Brie Soup
3 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 large apples (about 1 pound), peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes
½ large sweet yellow onion (about 1 cup), peeled, chopped into ¼-inch cubes
1 stalk celery (about ¼ cup), finely chopped
2 ½ cups of unsalted chicken stock or vegetable broth
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cumin
8 oz. Brie cheese, rind scraped and removed; cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt to taste
¼ cup Rolling Lawns heavy cream
Grated apple, unpeeled for garnish, optional

Melt butter in a 5-quart Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat. Add apples, onions and celery; cook and stir 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft. (Cooking until soft is important to get a smoother textured soup).

Turn off heat.

Sprinkle flour evenly over top of cooked vegetables. Return heat to low. Using a whisk, stirring constantly, and cook 2 minutes or until the flour is completely combined with mixture.

Gradually add stock while constantly stirring mixture with a wooden flat bottomed spatula. Stir in pepper, ginger and cumin. Bring mixture to a boil then immediately reduce heat to medium-low and cook 15 to 18 minutes; stirring occasionally.

Add cubes of Brie cheese. Stir gently until cheese is melted about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Puree soup in batches in blender, food processor or immersion blender until smooth and well blended. Add salt to taste. Stir in cream with whisk before serving.

Note: This soup looks super cute when served in 4-ounce canning jars with Eckert’s unpeeled apple rings and Irish Soda bread.