Flour Substitute

[wishnot]

I found a spinach, blue cheese and bacon soup recipe that I'm dying to try but it uses quit a bit of flour as thickener. Is there anything I can use in it's place?

[WenB]

What about xanthan gum?

[Charski]

Can you post the recipe? You might be able to add/cook down heavy cream, cream cheese, or some other possibilities but I'd want to look at the complete recipe before I made that type of suggestion for sure!

[wishnot]

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt to taste
ground cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 pound bacon


In a large pot over medium heat, combine the butter or margarine and the onions. Saute for about 3 minutes. Add flour and stir well until mixed. Add broth, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Whisk mixture to keep flour from clumping.

Add milk, reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the blue cheese and stir until blended, then add the spinach and cook 3 more minutes. Add the cream, bring just to a boil, turn off heat and stir well. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

puree in a food processor or blender a little at a time or serve as is for more texture. Ladle into individual bowls and sprinkle with the bacon


Thanks for your help and suggestions!

[Charski]

OK, so here's what I would do - ditch the flour and the milk.

Do the onions/butter thing, then add about 6 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes, and stir til melted. Add the chicken broth a bit at a time and stir til smooth. Add a cup of heavy cream and simmer til thickened, then add the bleu cheese and proceed as written.

Sounds good to me! DH wouldn't like it because he's not a bleu cheese fan but I bet I could make it with pepperjack or Cheddar and he'd love it!

[wishnot]

thanks for the suggestion, I'll let you know how it comes out, I lurve cheese soup!

[JerseyGirl1969]

Good ideas. I've used soy flour without problem on rare occasions

[wishnot]

So I made this soup today, it was soooooo good! I didn't use any flower but took your suggestion and used full fat cream cheese and replaced the milk with heavy cream. I pureed it as written and then added in chopped broccoli as well (and left that chunky). The flavor was rich and creamy but still mild (not a strong blue cheese flavor at all), I highly recommend this recipe to creamy soup lovers!

[maria40nc]

My goodness... I am SO going to try this. I have been intensely craving blue cheese for some odd reason. It is not even something I've really eaten in the past. I plan on buying some tonight.

I would likley be happy to leave the flour out and just have a thinner soup, but I do like Charski's suggestions as well!

Thank you for sharing!

Maria

[wishnot]

my mom also had a good suggestion of pureeing some cauliflower and heavy cream and using that to thicken the soup, cauliflower has such an unassuming flavor you probably wouldn't be able to taste it at all (and any way I can sneak more veggies into my diet is good with me!)