Freezing soup and chowder

grouchandco, May 26, 7:27am
Is a soup or chowder made with cream base able to be frozen? If so what is the best way to reheat and also how long, approximately, can it be frozen for? Do the same rules apply to seafood chowder? TIA

awoftam, May 26, 7:35am
Yes you can however they will be very thick when reheating (slowly) so I whisk in a little more cream and/or milk until I get the consistency I like.

I have just made a huge pot of the most divine cauliflower soup - its got cream in it and is my fav I just love it - and it is sitting in containers on my bench at the moment - its almost room temp so will be chilled then frozen very soon!

Edits to say I would eat within 3 months.

pacificrose42, May 26, 4:49pm
awoftam can we have your soup recipe please?

sampa, May 26, 8:20pm
Yes, would love it too. have a cauli I need to use up.

awoftam, May 26, 8:43pm
Here it is - its from Dish magazine.

2T butter
1 onion peeled and chopped
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large cauli, broken into florets
1.2 litres chicken stock (I use Simon Gault's its awesome)
half cup cream
half cup milk
half cup grated Parmesan
quarter teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Melt butter in a large saucepan, add onion and season. Cook over a gentle heat 10 - 12 minutes until soft but not coloured.

Add garlic and thyme and cook another 2 minutes.

Add cauli and stock, cover and bring to boil then simmer for 20 minutes or until the cauli is easily pierced with a knife.

Add the cram, milk, Parmesan and nutmeg and cook for a futher five minutes.

Remove from heat and blend in a food processor or with a sick blender until smooth and creamy. Test for seasoning and add more salt, pepper or nutmeg to taste.

YUMMO!

The recipe states to serve this with blue cheese toasts:

Preheat oven to 180 C
Slice a french stick on the diagonal into 1cm thick slices. Place on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until just crispy and golden.

When ready to serve, spread blue cheese on 12 slices and top with walnuts. Bake until golden and bubbling.

Serve the soup hot, with a swirl of cream, some extra thyme leaves and the hot toast. Serves 6.

(This is a great entree to serve at a dinner party as mst of the work can be done well in advance. Its a fav of mine).

Enjoy.

sampa, May 26, 9:21pm
Oh that sounds gorgeous! Will cut down the amounts and break out the soup maker blender thingie and make this for my lunch today. Hubby has a 'thing' about cauli being pureed although. those blue cheese toasts might prove a temptation. May have to make enough to test drive him on it too. :)

Thanks!

awoftam, May 26, 9:30pm
I would sampa, as a friend who 'doesn't like' cauli woffs this down.

Good luck.

battgirl, May 29, 12:00am
Love cauli soup, and if you're REALLY feeling adventurous it's divine topped with chorizo croutons (fry small squares of chorizo until crispy, sprinkle over soup and drizzle over some of the delicious chorizo oil it produces).

awoftam, May 29, 1:14am
Ohhhh battgirl, that does sound nice, and I do love chorizo! Features in a few dishes I regularly make. Thanks for the tip.

sarahb5, May 30, 7:03am
Won me over with the blue cheese toasts - definitely going to try this one

awoftam, Jun 28, 7:10pm
Yip, they are def the icing on the cake, so to speak. When I have this without them (usually left overs), there is definitely 'something missing'. Brings out the flavours marvelously. Don't miss the walnuts.