Crab and Brie Soup - Caity

The weather this week has been.... dreary. It's cold and rainy. And cold. And rainy. Not unusual weather for Portland though! While I was walking across the Costco parking lot yesterday getting thoroughly soaked and wind blown, I knew there was only one thing that could warm me up. Crab and Brie soup. 

This recipe is based on my favorite soup from a restaurant in Salt Lake called Big City Soup. I was relatively heart broken when I came home for Fall Break in college and found out it had closed and there was no Crab and Brie soup waiting to welcome me home. Luckily, my mom is a PRETTY good cook and figured out the basic recipe and it is an excellent replacement. 

This recipe serves 4-5 people and you absolutely have to serve it with crusty bread to dip in the soup. Yummmmmm!

One year ago: Thanksgiving Stuffing 

what you'll need:

3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup or so chopped shallots
1 cup white wine
3 Tbsp. white flour
1 ½ cup milk
   ½ cup half and half
   1 ½ cups sliced brie (rinds on)
1 ½ cups crab - I buy the Chicken of the Sea stuff from Costco
2 splashes hot sauce like Tapatio or Aardvark sauce
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
Minced parsley for garnish

Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Add in the shallots and cook until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Pour in the white wine and turn the heat up to medium/high and let it simmer until the wine is nearly all boiled off, a little less than 10 minutes. 

It should look similar to this after the wine has been nearly boiled off. 

Add in the flour and stir it around. Don't let the flour brown. 

In this next step you are going to add the brie and milk but it is important to not add all the brie and all the milk at the same time or else the brie won't melt properly. The key is to add it in steps. 

Stir in about 1/3 cup of milk. Add in about 1/4 cup of the chopped up brie. Stir continuously until the brie has melted. 

Continue at these proportions until all the brie is stirred in. If you run out of milk, start stirring in the half and half. 

When all the milk, half and half and brie is all stirred in, mix  in the chicken broth and the crab. Let it simmer on low heat until the crab is warmed through. 

Splash in the hot sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve it up in bowls with the minced parsley for garnish and with a nice crusty loaf of bread.

One year ago: Thanksgiving Stuffing