Ah, Fall! My Favorite Season.

Monday is October 1st and October, to me, is Fall!  I love the Fall light - crisper, sharper somehow.  My thoughts begin to turn toward Fall Foods - chili, cornbread with butter and honey, creamed chipped beef on scrambled eggs -- okay, it doesn't take much to make me think of food.  Guilty!

Leafing through the Food & Wine Cookbook they sent me, I came across what sounds like a perfect Fall dish.  Imagine thermoses of it at a football game...or you've been out trimming the hedges and there's a bitter wind and you come in to a steaming bowl of ...

BEER AND CHEDDAR SOUP
1/4 lb. of bacon, cut into 1/3-inch dice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
pinch of thyme
One 12-oz. bottle of lager or pilsner
Anout 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 T sweet butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream - be thinking about either leaving this out or finding a substitute - plain yogurt?  I think that the cheese would add enough thickener when they've melted.
1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
4 oz. smoked cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
Pepper to taste

Cook the bacon till it's done, then lift it out of the skillet and set it aside.  Throw in the jalapeno, onion, garlic and cook them till they're soft.  Add half of the beer and cook until this sauce is reduced by half.  Add the chicken broth and bring it up to a simmer.

Use the butter and flour to make a roux and then whisk it into the soup. 

Add the heavy cream (sigh) and the cheeses and the rest of the beer.  Cook until thickened and then stir iin the bacon and pepper. 

This is a Jonathon Erdeljac recipe, chef of Jonathon's Oak Cliff, Dallas.