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Danish apple soup

This recipe is never going to hit your “chez Maureen top 10” chart but if you like blue cheese, lemon and you’re amenable to the idea of hot apples blended into soup, it’s worth a try.
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Ingredients

  • Apples 2 lbs (1 kg), tart apples are suggested.
  • Lemon 1
  • Blue cheese 2 oz (30 g), see Note below
  • Cinnamon stick 1, see Note below
  • Salt 2 tsp.
  • Cornstarch ½ cup (It’s also possible to use potato starch or plain flour as a thickener.)
  • Zwieback 4 pieces, see Note below
  • White wine dry, ½ cup (120 ml)

Instructions

  • Core and slice the apple (using the referenced “apple corer and divider” if you’re lucky enough to have one).
  • Peel the lemon and cut the peel into thin slices. Juice the lemon.
  • Cut or break the cheese up into small pieces.
  • Place the apples, lemon peel and juice, cinnamon stick, salt and cheese into a large pot with enough water to cover everything.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Cover and let simmer for 35 minutes until the apples are very soft.
  • Stir when you remember to.
  • Remove the cinnamon stick and blend the soup into a puree. You can pour the soup into a regular blender in batches, or use a nifty immersion blender.
  • Make a paste out your thickening agent of choice and some cold water. Add to the soup pot.
  • Cover and simmer until thickened.
  • Crumble the zwieback and place a handful into the bottom of each soup plate.
  • Pour the soup on top and serve very hot.

Notes

Blue cheese: the recipe calls for Danish blue cheese but we live in France so I figured there was no use wasting my time looking for the Danish version of a French specialty. To shake things up a bit I used a blue cheese made from goat’s milk. I’m not a big fan of blue cheese but this particular one had a sticker on the package that it had won a “taste of the year” award. How could I refuse?
Cinnamon stick: I actually left this out because one of my guests has a strong dislike of cinnamon. I’m including it here because it probably contributes an important nuance to the dish.
Zwieback: I can already warn you that it’s not easy to find zwieback in your typical U.S. supermarket. Zwieback is basically slices of dry bread. Your best bet is to check around the fancy cheese counter at your supermarket for one of those over-priced packs of miniature toasts. Or just put some regular old bread in the oven until it’s dried out.
The recipe claims to be for 4 servings. These would be very very large servings for apple- and blue cheese connoisseurs. I would rather estimate that the recipe could serve 8-10 average appetites with ease.Cranwell suggests a cucumber and endive salad to accompany the soup. “The wine, of course, would be Riesling.” (I’m a bit puzzled by his smug “of course” since Riesling is hardly Danish. A quick search of wines produced in Denmark brought up multiple hits for a variety called “Viking Blod”. This, of course, would be my choice.)