Cream soup with crispy cheese: 3 recipes

Short answer: crispy dried cheese is the easiest topping for a cream soup: it adds crunch like croutons and cheesy flavour like grated Parmesan, but without flour or oil. The main rule: add it to the bowl at the very last moment before serving, otherwise the bites will go soft. Below are three tried-and-tested pairings: pumpkin with smoked Sulguni, mushroom with Primaggio and tomato with mozzarella.

1. Pumpkin cream soup with smoked Sulguni

Serves 4: pumpkin 800 g, onion 1, carrot 1, 20% cream 150 ml, stock or water 600 ml, butter 20 g, nutmeg, salt, pepper; topping: a pack of smoked Sulguni (28 g) and pumpkin seeds.

1. Sauté the onion and carrot in butter for 5 minutes, add the pumpkin cubes, pour in the stock and simmer for 20 minutes until soft.
2. Blend, pour in the cream, heat through, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with smoked Sulguni sticks and seeds. Serve immediately.

Why it works: sweetish pumpkin calls for something salty and smoky; smoked Sulguni plays the role of bacon here, but without meat. A serving also gives 3–4 g of protein from the cheese.

2. Mushroom cream soup with crispy Primaggio

Serves 4: button mushrooms 500 g (plus a handful of dried porcini for aroma), onion 1, potato 1, cream 150 ml, stock 600 ml, butter 20 g, thyme; topping: a pack of Primaggio (28 g), a few drops of truffle oil if you like.

1. Slice the mushrooms and fry them in butter with thyme until golden: this gives a deep flavour.
2. Add the onion and potato, pour in the stock, simmer for 15 minutes, blend, pour in the cream.
3. On top: Primaggio bites, which replace both croutons and grated Parmesan.

3. Tomato cream soup with mozzarella

Serves 4: canned tomatoes 800 g (or 1 kg fresh roasted), onion 1, garlic 2 cloves, olive oil 2 tbsp, stock 400 ml, a pinch of sugar, basil; topping: a pack of mozzarella (28 g), basil leaves, olive oil.

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in oil, add the tomatoes and stock, simmer for 15 minutes, blend and, if needed, add a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity.
2. Serve with crispy mozzarella bites: it’s a “caprese” in soup form — tomato, basil, mozzarella, just with added crunch.

Rules for a dried cheese topping

• At the last moment. The bites absorb moisture; after 3–5 minutes in hot soup they become soft (still tasty, but no longer crunchy).
• One 28 g pack for 3–4 servings makes a generous layer.
• Salt the soup a little less: the cheese is salty.
• Don’t boil. Dried cheese isn’t meant for boiling: it doesn’t melt like fresh cheese, it just goes soft.

What else to try

Pea soup with Cheddar, broccoli cream soup with smoked Emmental, onion soup with Primaggio instead of a cheese crouton. Salad: “Caesar” with crispy cheese instead of croutons. All ideas: what to eat cheese snacks with. For a restaurant kitchen, the more convenient option is the 500 g pack.

Questions and answers

What can I sprinkle on cream soup instead of croutons?

Crispy dried cheese bites: crunch and cheesy flavour without flour or oil.

Can dried cheese be boiled in soup?

No, it will go soft. Add it to the bowl a second before serving.

Which dried cheese goes with pumpkin soup?

Smoked Sulguni: it works like bacon.

What to try

Dried snEco Cheese “Sulguni”, 28 g €3.13 Dried snEco Cheese “Primaggio”, 28 g €3.30 Dried snEco Cheese “Mozzarella”, 28 g €3.30

Author: Vadym Gryshyn, co-founder of snEco