yummy yummy in my tummy

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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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The Perfect Fall Cookie

My husband made cookies last weekend. I was skeptical when he showed me the recipe, because they seemed like a cross between a molasses cookie and a chocolate chip cookie, which seemed like an odd amalgam. 

Plus, the recipe specifically doesn’t call for vanilla, which seems like blasphemy. 

But they were perfection. 

The recipe is here. They are supposedly based on cookies sold by Levain bakery. (By the way, Levain bakery is a GREAT source of mail order gifts. A dear friend of mine sent up a package of four cookies a few years ago and I still think of them. They were enormous and thick and chewy and so flavorful. YUM. We have since sent them to a few people as gifts and they are always a hit.)

My husband measured the cookies into four-ounce balls (the recipe gives you options for four-, five-, or six-ounce cookies). He was able to make eight perfect four-ounce cookies (he weighed each one) and one slightly smaller cookie. Four ounces makes an ENORMOUS cookie. They were perfectly round, soft on the inside. And they were exactly like molasses cookies combined with chocolate chip cookies, which – it turns out – is a WONDERFUL amalgam. (If you like molasses cookies, I suppose.) I love that bite of ginger and the smokey undercurrent of molasses, which went perfectly with the creamy sweetness of the chocolate chips. YUM.

The only change my husband made to the recipe was that he refrigerated the balls of dough for 20 minutes before baking them. I think he also cooked them for a total of 12 minutes, turning them halfway through, but that’s because our oven seems to cook more slowly than most. (We discussed adding vanilla, because it seemed so WILD that there was no! vanilla!!!! in the recipe at all, but ended up deciding to stick to the recipe as written, at least for this time. We did not miss the vanilla.)

If you are looking for the perfect fall cookie, look no further. I am certainly bringing these to our next get-together with friends.

Yes, I did a fall photo shoot with the remaining two cookies, and yes, I then immediately ate one of the cookies after I took this picture (it was still soft), and yes, they do look suspiciously similar to regular old chocolate chip cookies but they are so much more.
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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!