Friday Foodie - French Onion Soup

The other day I mentioned that I was going to make French Onion Soup because it was my husband's favorite soup.  The people I was talking to acted like I was going to try to make a 5 star gourmet 7 course French meal!  Realistically speaking - other than needing to be home for an hour to stir the onions occasionally - it's probably one of the easier things I make.  I actually saw on TV the other day (watching the Kitchen - love Geoffrey Zakarian) how to caramelize onions in a slow cooker.  I am going to try an experiment and caramelize the onions overnite in the slow cooker and then add the rest of the ingredients and cook the soup all day... but that is another time.  This soup was an experiment in cooking less.  I am still having issues trying to cook 2 people's worth of food - even though it's been almost 5 years since the Angie went away to school!




One large sweet onion (this one is from Chile - but if you can get Vidalia or Walla Walla go for them! ) I think the sweet onions caramelize better.



I slice mine on a mandolin - it's easier to get nice thin slices that way.  I also slice 2 cloves of garlic.



I then take out my enameled cast iron pan.  If you don't have one ( I think the red ones work better.. not a scientific opinion however)  a heavy bottomed pan is important or you will have to stir more often to prevent your onionsfrom burning.  I melt about 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, when the butter is melted, add the onions, garlic, a bay leaf( I used three - but I really need a new bottle of them) , about half a palm full of thyme (if you have fresh probably one or two sprigs will work, some salt and pepper,  and a half palm full of Herbs de Provence (if you don't like this leave it out - I love the stuff - but only a few brands of it)    

  

Keeping the flame super low, stir maybe every ten minutes for  about an hour.  Your onions will begin to caramelize.



Now wine.  I usually use red, I have used white, I've also used beer.  They say only use a wine you would drink... problem is I don't drink wine.  I like the little "single serve" bottles of wine to cook with because I don't have to worry about the rest of the wine going bad on me.  (When I use Guinness or ale I don't have that problem :) )  A friend of mine who doesn't drink or eat an alcohol says he uses 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of stock to deglaze with - so you can try that if you'd like.  Once the onions have caramelized and when you stir you leave "spoon tracks" on the bottom of the pan (you will also have some browning on the bottom of the pan - this is good) add you wine, bring up to a boil and then lower the heat again. Continue to occasionally stir on a very low heat until the onions are pretty much the same consistency as they were before.



Now add just over a tablespoon of flour and stir to cook out the flour taste -  about 10 minutes stirring every couple of minutes.



 Add one box of unsalted beef stock and 3/4 to 1 cup of water depending on your stock.  Raise the heat to bring the soup to a slow simmer, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Now the toast and cheese part.  It's fun to toast some french bread, put slices in the bowl of soup, cover with cheese and put under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly and starting to brown.  Or you can do what I did  ( a trick I saw on a cooking show a long time ago - I don't remember whose show so I can't give credit where due)  I also couldn't get a whole wheat baguette, so I used whole wheat Portuguese rolls instead. Sliced them, put them on a foil covered baking sheet. I toasted them for a few minutes and then turned them over.  I covered each with a slice of gruyere and a slice of swiss and put them under the broiler until they got all bubbly and started to brown.





Then I put these in the bowl and let them absorb some soup before I served them.

Only 12 ingredients - if you count the bread and cheese. Total time is about 2 hours - but I was doing other things for those 2 hours just remembering to go stir every ten minutes or so.  The hardest part is not burning the cheese on the bread. 

I do wonder if Curt thinks I have ulterior motives when I make this though....

Thursday Twists

I've finished 2 knitting projects this week.  The first is a pair of fingerless mitts - that have a built in hidden pocket on the left hand.  It would be great for a bus pass if you take public transport, or a drivers license and credit card - I took my picture with my Starbucks card.. because really that's most likely for me!  The mitts were a mystery knit a long on Ravelry - it was done a bit different than most that I've done.  After you post a picture of your yarn - you got the first clue, then after you post each progressive clue the next day you get the next one.  If you didn't reach a certain point by Jan 15th - the designer assumed you weren't on pace to finish and dropped you from the clue list.   That would have totally pissed me off. Especially since in my life,  the month isn't always a smooth flow of days and there are weeks I can get a lot done - and other weeks not so much.  As much as I love these mitts - I don't think I'm doing any more of her knit a longs.  (for reference - most of the MKALs I've done the clues were released on a certain schedule - whether or not you were caught up)
 

 

I may make them again - with just 2 strands of yarn instead of 4 ( they are a bit bulkier than I personally like)  With the white and a variegated; or black with a variegated.  Most of my fingering/sock weight yarn is variegated, the gloves ended up being the only 4 solids I had that worked together!

The second project I finished is an infinity scarf.... in the NJDevils colors.  I finished and wore it yesterday, the Devils won a game in OT (this year - if a game went to the shoot out it was pretty much over for them - so this was a change)  I do not believe this was a coincidence.. I give the scarf some of the credit! 

This yarn gave me all sorts of fits.. normally I LOVE single ply yarn - but after trying 3 other patterns ( I may get a different yarn and try the brioche stitch cowl I started with  - love the pattern - it was too stiff and too tall with this yarn) I finally settled on an old classic stitch pattern, twisted it and kitchenered it.  ( I had my doubts about the way the designer joined the two ends - but it really worked out well! )