Bavarian Cream soup

Hello long lost bloggies! I hope everyone is having a nice start to 2012. I honored the coming of the new year by making my fave winter soup - which I promptly froze up and have been eating for lunches for the past two weeks! It is another recipe from the Schumacher cookbook, and the sidebar of this recipe says that it was a favorite at the restaurant. It is rich and creamy (of course!) with a vinegar-y sort of punch. And there are tons of veggies. And a little bacon. I was especially excited to use up some of the green beans frozen in my freezer - we are midway to spring here! I modified this recipe a little: I used GF flour for the roux, I used buckwheat instead of barley, and I only made the amount of roux I needed (whereas Schumacher has you make a batch and freeze the extra).

FYI: It takes a significant chunk of time, maybe 2 hours to make this soup. So be prepared with a snack or something if you are trying to make it for dinner!

Serves 8-10
1/4 lb. bacon, diced 1/4"
2 cloves minced garlic
2 c. onions, diced 1/2"
1 c. carrots, diced 1/2"
1 quart crushed whole tomatoes
1 quart beef stock
1 c. tomato puree
1/3 c. barley or buckwheat groats
1 t. marjoram
1 t. basil
1 t. caraway seeds
2 T. worcestershire (generally not GF; i made up something similar)
1 c. potatoes, diced 1/2"
2 c. cabbage, cut 1" long by 1/4" wide
1 c. zucchini, diced 1/2"
1 c. fresh green beans, cut 1" long
1/2 c. white vinegar
1 quart heavy cream sauce* (see below: you need milk, butter, and flour)
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 t. black pepper
1 t. salt (I needed way more b/c my homemade stock was not salted)

Heavy Cream Sauce *This got a little tricky because I don't have a scale, but it's roux...it is forgiving. And I accidentally only had 1/2 qt of heavy cream, so I made due.
1 quart milk or half and half
6 oz roux

To make the roux, you use equal parts butter and flour (be weight, so use a little extra flour if you are measuring). Melt the butter in a saucepan, and than whisk in the flour. For this recipe he wants a dark roux - so keep stirring and heating for at least 5 minutes. (The photo here is early on - a light roux.) He actually recommends that you put the pan in the oven at 375 for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, which gets really dark - but I think you could follow these easy youtube instructions for a similar effect. The roux thickens and flavors the soup - apparently a common technique in Creole and French cooking. And it makes appearances on Top Chef, so you know that equals fancy.

Render bacon brown in a sauce pot. Add garlic and onions, celery and carrots, and saute until onions are clear. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring lightly. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato puree, spices, worcestershire, and barley and simmer for one hour. Then add potatoes, cabbage, zucchini and beans. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add heavy cream sauce, and blend well. Add vinegar, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot in bowls or mugs with a generous dollop of sour cream.