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Use apples from your trip to one of the Hudson Valley’s picturesque apple orchards to make this creamy, comforting soup for dinner.
This soup is a delicate blend of tart Granny Smith apples and sweet caramelized onion. While cooking this dish, keep the apple slices in a small bowl of water with half a lemon squeezed into it; pat the apple slices dry before garnishing the soup.
Apple Soup
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter or vegetable oil
5 cups thinly sliced onions
4 cups diced Granny Smith apples (peeled and cored)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 qt vegetable broth or water
3 cups apple cider or juice
½ cup heavy cream, heated
Sachet: 3 to 4 parsley stems, 2 whole cloves, and 1 garlic clove enclosed in a tea ball or tied up in a cheesecloth pouch
Salt to taste
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
8 thin slices Red Delicious apple
Method:
Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the apples and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.
Add flour and stir well with a wooden spoon. Cook over medium heat for 1 minute.
Add broth gradually, using a whisk to work out any lumps between each addition. Add apple cider and sachet.
Bring soup to a simmer and continue to simmer gently for 30 minutes. Stir soup occasionally and skim surface as necessary.
Discard sachet and strain soup through a sieve, reserving the liquid. Purée the solids and return to the soup pot.
Add enough of the reserved liquid to achieve a soup consistency. Add cream and blend well. Return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.
Serve in heated bowls, garnished with a slice of red apple.
This recipe is from Culinary Institute of America’s The New Book of Soups (2009, Lebhar-Freidman Books).
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