soup is good

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Sunday Soup

French onion soup is in the air. Perhaps because many of us are reading the same blogs as part of NaBloPoMo, I have read about French onion soup in two separate posts recently and it really got me in the mood. (Can I remember which blogs, or find them via a cursory look? No, I cannot.)

French onion is one of my favorite soups, and I have never been able to make it the way I think it should taste, although I keep trying. There are two French onion soups that I have had in my life that I am aiming to replicate. One bowl was at the Pluckemin Inn in Bedminster, NJ. The other was at the Marriott Hotel restaurant in Delray Beach, FL; the former still exists, although I do not know if they continue to offer the amazing onion soup. The latter has changed hands a few times since I went there in the early aughts.

What they had in common was an exultant richness of broth. Dark, heavy to the point of almost being thick. No meat in either soup, and yet with a distinct meaty unctuousness. Oh, how I loved those soups. 

I have experimented with making my own French onion soup, but have never quite been able to match the flavor of those two idyllic soups. I’m getting closer, though…

One thing you should know about me is that I do not like soggy food. So I do not top my onion soup with a cheesy crouton. When I eat soup at restaurants I sort of peel the cheese off the bread and eat that, and then… sort of eat the broth around the bread. I know. I am very strange. 

Since I am planning on making French onion soup this week, I thought I would post the recipe. (Do not fret, though; there is LOTS of cheesy goodness in my soup.)

I make a modified version of Ina Garten’s soup.

This soup tastes so much better than it looks.

Super Rich and Cheesy French Onion Soup

(approximately 6 servings)

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices bacon
  • 6 onions, cut in half, then sliced into ¼ inch strips1
  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3-6 sprigs of fresh thyme 
  • 1 cup medium-dry sherry (Ina calls for ½ cup brandy and ½ cup sherry; I do not have brandy)
  • 1 ½ cups white2 wine (wine you would drink; I usually use Chardonnay)
  • 8 cups beef stock (Ina calls for 4 cups beef stock and 4 cups veal stock)
  • 1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Shredded gruyere cheese, to taste (I like a lot of cheese)
  • French baguette, cut into ½ inch slices

Instructions:

  • Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.
  • In a large stockpot, cook bacon until brown (5-10 minutes on medium low; watch carefully or your bacon may burn). 
  • Remove bacon to a paper towel; eat both slices while you cook, or crush them into bits to sprinkle over your soup later. 
  • Add 1 Tbsp of butter to the bacon grease in the pot; increase heat to medium-high. Add sliced onions, bay leaf, and thyme sprigs, and stir, occasionally, for about 30-45 minutes until they are much reduced in size and a deep, caramelized brown. 
  • Deglaze the pan with the sherry, scraping up any browned bits, and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
  • Stir in the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
  • Add the wine and simmer, uncovered, for an additional 15 minutes.
  • Add the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
  • Heat slices of baguette in the oven on a baking sheet for five minutes or until they are light golden brown. 
  • When soup is ready, ladle it into oven-safe bowls. Sprinkle with shredded gruyere; some of it will get caught in strands of onion, some of it will sink to the bottom and add a nice little cheesy layer.
  • Add a slice of baguette to the top of the soup and sprinkle liberally with shredded gruyere3. Move your bowl to the baking sheet and broil for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. 
  • Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes (ha, as if) before eating. 

Notes: 

  1. Make sure you get a variety of types of onions, except red – I usually get two white onions, two Spanish onions, and two sweet onions. You should aim for 6 to 8 cups of onions, if that helps you with onion sizing.
  2. Next time I make this, I might try red wine instead of white; I am hopeful it will lend some additional richness to the broth. 
  3. If you don’t like soggy bread, top additional toasted slices of baguette with gruyere and add them to the baking sheet; broil until melted and bubbly. The cheesy slices are good for dipping into the soup, or for eating by themselves.
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Dinners This Week

All our snow is gone. It melted over the rainy weekend. We are getting more sun, more frequently. And it is MARCH. I am GIDDY with the anticipation of spring. Normally, I love winter. And we ended up making the most out of this winter, spending a LOT of time outside and with friends (all masked of course; it’s sad that I still feel the need to add this assurance, but such is life in these mask-divisive days). So I am definitely sad to see it go. BUT I am delighted that spring is around the corner. (My husband, the killjoy realist, advocates caution around getting too excited for spring; it’s only March, he says, very reasonably; we could still have plenty of winter yet.) (Carla and I drove through a brief blizzard on the way home.) (NOTHING STUCK.) Spring means warm weather! It means meeting friends for walks in the park! It means firing up the outdoor heater and having friends OVER TO OUR BACKYARD! It means increasing spans of sunshine. It means increasing numbers of vaccination. It means we are moving ever closer to whatever “normal” will mean once most people are vaccinated. I AM EXCITED. 

My meal plan for this week doesn’t particularly reflect spring, though. It still reflects a person who requires hearty stews and warm bread. That’s okay. We can hold onto the pleasurable bits of winter a bit longer.

Dinners for the Week of March 1-March 8

  • Mulligatawny Soup and Miracle No-Knead Bread: Because I have mirepoix already portioned out and frozen, this meal is SO SIMPLE. And delicious. The only thing I have to think about is mixing the bread ingredients the night before. Everything else is easy peasy.
  • Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Baked Potato: I guess my theme for the week is Easy Meals? Doesn’t get much simpler than rough-chopping an onion, dumping it into the slow cooker with a pork tenderloin and some BBQ sauce, and letting it cook down into fall-apart perfection. 
  • Chickpea Bowls: We haven’t had these in awhile and these are the perfect intersection of hearty and spicy. I add a bunch of bell peppers and a chicken breast when I make this for dinner. Maybe I will make a double portion so I can have some for lunches as well.
  • Hungarian Mushroom Soup: This is a recipe my husband recommended; he so rarely puts forth a dinner option that I tend to leap on the rare suggestions with great enthusiasm. This soup sounds kind of stroganoff-esque. It does require fresh parsley, though. I ABHOR parsley, but my husband and I talked it out and I am going to BUY PARSLEY and CHOP IT UP and PUT IT VOLUNTARILY into the soup. We’ll see what happens. 
  • Some sort of salad we can dip into all week: Not a whole lot of veggies happening this week, so I think I will get some lettuce and some easy toppings (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, scallions) so we can have side salads should the mood strike.

What are you eating this first week of March?

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Dinners This Week, Go-To Snacks

Man, I don’t know WHAT it was about yesterday, but I was feeling snacky ALL DAY. I tried to quell my snackishness with the usual recommendations: drink a glass of water, eat a bunch of veggies, eat some protein. I ate a green pepper. I ate carrots. I ate a pickle. I drank water. I drank tea. I ate a protein-packed lunch. 

None of it worked. I just wanted SNACKS. 

(This reminds me that Carla, when she was in the one-ish and two-ish age range, did not say her initial Ses very well. It came out as more of a nasal H sound, made between the nose and the back of the throat. So instead of saying “snacks,” it sounded something like, “Hnacks.” This is still my husband’s and my preferred pronunciation. Man, I wish I had recorded more of those babyisms before they’d vanished from her vocabulary.) 

What’s your go-to snack? 

Mine is always chips. (My husband is the opposite – he’s a sweet snacker. He’d probably go for a big spoonful of peanut butter and a little bowl of chocolate chips, or some cookies.) If I had a magical metabolism, I would eat chips all day every day. Tortilla chips with salsa. Tortilla chips with guacamole. Tortilla chips with queso. Tortilla chips with melted cheese and hot sauce, which is how I staunched my snack attack yesterday. Nachos. Ruffles dipped in Marzetti Southwest Ranch. Salsa Verde Doritos. Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno Potato Chips. The mix of crunch and salt and fat and spice is my idea of heaven. In a pinch, I’d eat cheese and crackers. A nice sharp cheddar or a nutty Manchego or a creamy Brie paired with a delicious Triscuit cracker or a crunchy, buttery Ritz – yum. Have I just talked myself into a second day of snackishness?

Anyway, chips. Food of the gods.

Of course, a person cannot live on chips alone. 

Dinners for the Week of February 2–8

  • Crockpot BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Baked Potato: I haven’t had this in forever and I am CRAVING it.
  • Creamy Shrimp Pasta: Speaking of cravings, this sounds SO yummy.
  • 5 Ingredient Spicy Pork with Roasted Broccoli: Since the pork tenderloins usually come in a two-pack, this pork dish would be a good second-tenderloin option. I haven’t tried it before but it sounds delicious. 
  • Crockpot White Chicken Chili: Ever since I tried and loved chicken tortilla soup, I have been inspired to branch out into more chicken-based soups and stews. I have never in my life eaten a white chicken chili, but this version may persuade me to finally dip my toe in. (Not literally.)

We have ground beef in the freezer, so there’s always the possibility of tacos. And romaine in the fridge and salmon in the freezer, which could easily result in a delicious salad. Lots of options. 

Happy eating this week, Internet!