By 96five NetworkThursday 30 Jul 2020RecipesReading Time: 2 minutes
By Rebekah Freeman of Once A Term Cooking
This is a rich, creamy and hearty soup! It’s easily adaptable to be vegetarian and best of all it’s simple to make and very filling! This recipe makes five to six litres of cheeseburger soup, but you can halve the recipe if you want to make less.
Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 large potatoes
- 2 stalks of celery
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 heaped tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons dried herbs (Italian herb mix is a personal favourite)
- Chicken broth
- 3 cups diced bacon
- 500 grams mince
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Flour
- Milk
- Salt & Pepper
- 2 cups grated cheese
- Vegetarian Option – substitute mince with cooked lentils and omit bacon
Method
Roughly chop about 4-6 large potatoes, 2-3 stalks of celery, and 2 carrots.
Place them, along with 1 diced and fried onion, 3 sliced cloves of garlic, 4 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste, and 2 teaspoons of dried herbs (I used Italian herb mix) in the slow cooker and cover with chicken broth.
Cook on low until tender and cooked through.
Puree using a stick blender. Leave on low while preparing the following.
Before serving – pan fry roughly 3 cups of diced bacon and 500gm of mince in batches until browned and add to the slow cooker (which is still on low; do not blend these in, it gives the soup texture).
Add 4 cups of white sauce – melt 2 tbs butter in a pan over low heat, add flour and stir until it forms a ball, gradually add milk while stirring until it creates a thick sauce.
Add salt to taste and stir through soup. Season soup to taste and stir through 2 cups of grated cheese.
Serve with fresh torn herbs (I used basil), extra cheese and bacon pieces.
Recipe supplied with thanks to Once a Term Cooking.