Abbey Farms Boerenkaas Soup

Ingredients 

• 4 tbsp. butter or 4 tbsp. olive oil

• ¼ cup onion, finely chopped

• 2 carrots scraped & diced into ¼ pieces

• 2 potatoes, diced into ¼ pieces

•  ½ lb. cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets

• ¼ lb. celery, peeled and diced into ¼ pieces

• 6 cups chicken stock 

• 4 slices lean bacon

• 4 slices white homestyle bread

• 4 oz. Abbey Farms Boerenkaas Farmhouse Gouda (sliced to ⅛ in thick (wax removed))

In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; add vegetables and sauté until onion is golden brown. Pour in stock; bring to a boil over high heat. Partially cover the pan, and lower heat. Simmer until vegetables are tender-crisp. In a heavy skillet fry bacon over medium heat until brown and crisp around the edges, until most of the fat has cooked off. Fry the bread in the bacon grease so that it is crisp and brown on both sides. Preheat the broiler to its highest setting. Float the bacon on top of the soup, and top each slice with a piece of the fried bread. Arrange Abbey Farms Boerenkaas Farmhouse Gouda slices over top, covering bread and surface completely. Slide Dutch oven into broiler so the top is about 3 inches from the heat source and broil until cheese melts and turns a light golden brown.