Blue Cheese and Apple Soup Recipe

Here's the recipe (from chef John Ash) for the Blue Cheese and Apple soup that Dick Jordan served at today's "Final Exam" lunch.

Ingredient List

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup finely minced shallots or scallions
• 3 cups peeled and diced tart-sweet apples such as McIntosh or Gravenstein
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2-3 cups rich vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1/2 pound sweet Gorgonzola, Cambozola, Maytag blue, or other blue cheese
• 1 1/2 cup light cream
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Drops of fresh lemon juice
• Garnish: Minced fresh chives (or freshly roasted chestnuts if soup served warm, diced tart apples if soup serve cold)

Dick's Ingredient Choices

Dick varied used these ingredients:

• Braeburn apples (neither McIntosh nor Gravenstein were available; used about 5 cups)
• Sauvignon blanc for the white wine
• Vegetable stock (Swanson's organic)
• Point Reyes Blue Cheese
• Heavy (whipping) cream
• Ground white pepper
• Garnish not used

Other Possible Variations

The soup was too "cheesy" for Dick's tastes and some of the other Meanderers who tried it.

The shallots might be replaced with leeks, onions, or a combination of all three, and more than 1/3 cup could be used (probably giving the soup more body.)

Adding diced potato might reduce the "cheesiness."

A milder blue cheese than Point Reyes Blue, or using less than a half-pound of cheese, should keep the cheese flavor from overpowering the apple flavor.

Increasing the amount of cream, especially if the amount of cheese is reduced, could make the soup creamier and the cheese flavor less intense.

Chicken stock might make for richer flavor than vegetable stock.

Cooking Directions

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and saute the shallots until soft but not brown.

Add the apples and cook until they just begin to soften.

Add the wine and 2 cups of broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to simmer.

Crumble and add the cheese and stir until the cheese melts.

Add the cream and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

(Dick added the cream off-heat to reduce the chance it would curdle.)

Let cool a bit.

Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree, in batches if necessary, adding more stock if desired for a thinner consistency. [Dick found the soup too watery, sauteed a couple more cups of diced apples, added the soup to those apples, stirred, and re-blended to get a thicker soup.]

At this point, the soup can either be chilled (for up to 2 days) to serve cold or heated to serve hot. Do not allow the soup to boil, or it will curdle.

Serve hot or cold, with one of the suggested garnishes.

Serves 6 to 8. (Dick got just under 2 quarts, or 8 cups. The soup is quite rich, so keep portions small.)