French Onion Soup – Ooh là là!

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The smell of frying onions reminds me of fairgrounds; of treasure hunting in a drizzly Camden Market; of hotdogs on a New York street corner; of the gently sizzling start of many a comforting soup, stew or casserole.  Proust, you can keep your Madeleines.

What I am after today is something even the fickle sugar rush of chocolate can’t provide. I need a bowl of no-nonsense, unapologetically pungent, solidly satisfying French onion soup with a lid of thick cheesy croutons.

Just as Ooh là là! has acquired a different meaning in English, French onion soup has come to mean an onion soup made with beef broth. However, if you can get someone to make you this dish in France, it is just as likely to be made with a chicken stock or just plain water. I’ve chosen a middle ground, going for chicken stock, as I find the beef version too ... well, too beefy. I’m in an onion sort of mood and that’s what I want this soup to sing of.

(The traditional method is to place the croutons on the soup, cover with cheese and put the whole lot under a hot grill but I find that preparing the croutons separately is quicker and safer.)

To create a little Ooh là là! for about 4 people you will need...

...for the soup

75g butter

1kg onions, peeled and sliced thinly into half moons

1L good chicken stock (or 350mls dry white wine and 650mls stock)

2 tablespoons of whiskey or brandy (optional)

a small bunch of thyme

2 or 3 bay leaves

time and patience (about 2 hours worth)

a little salt and black pepper to taste 

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the onions. Turn down the heat and cook the onions gently until they have reduced dramatically in volume and have turned a deep caramel brown (anything up to 2 hours), stirring occasionally, particularly towards the end.

Add the stock, whiskey or brandy (if using), and the bunch of thyme and bay leaves. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.

At this point it is ready to serve, however, I prefer to leave it cool, then chill it in the fridge overnight. I scrape off and discard any butter than has congealed on the top before reheating while I make the croutons.

Transform the humble onion into a pot of gold

 

... for the croutons

8 slices of baguette, about 1.5cm thick

1 clove garlic, peeled

100g Gruyere (or a mixture of Gruyere and Mozzarella) grated

Place the slices of baguette on a baking tray and bake at about 175°C for about 15 minutes or until golden, turning once about half way through the time. Leave to cool.

When the soup is ready to serve, rub the croutons lightly with the clove of garlic, place on a baking tray and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Place under a hot grill until golden and bubbling.

Ladle the soup into bowls and launch two croutons on the surface of each golden oniony sea. Serve immediately. Ooh là là !

Ooh là là !

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Saintly Cauliflower Soup – with Blue Cheese and Prosciutto Sinners

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Sometimes stuff doesn’t make sense to me, like the greengrocer explaining I could have two cauliflowers or none, when I wanted just one.  It was a ‘take it or leave it’ situation, but what’s a girl to do with two cauliflowers? Everyone to whom I offered the spare had already either been to the shop and either purchased two or temporarily sworn off cauliflower in protest at having a brace of anaemic brassicas foisted upon them.

Too much of a good thing?

One cauliflower was dispatched into a relatively saintly, healthy New Year’s resolution soup which I topped with sinful blue cheese and prosciutto croutons. One cauliflower down, one to go. Got any ideas?

For 6 - 8 servings you will need...

25g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, peeled of stringy bits, roughly chopped

200mls dry white wine

600g cauliflower broken into florets

900mls good quality chicken stock (homemade if possible)

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 clove garlic, peeled

Salt and ground white pepper to taste

1           Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Lower the heat and fry gently for about 5 minutes until onion is soft and translucent but has not taken on any colour. Add the wine and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

2          Add cauliflower and chicken stock to the saucepan (you could use vegetarian stock if you prefer). When it has come to the boil, lower the heat, add the clove of garlic and ground white pepper, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Blend to a smooth liquid – a stick blender is the perfect tool for this. Taste and add salt and more white pepper only if necessary. The soup is pretty saintly so far. Be a devil and add these sinful croutons.

Blue cheese and prosciutto sinners!

Croutons

4 slices French bread, each about 1cm thick, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

20g blue cheese, crumbled

20g prosciutto, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C  

(War on Waste note: I try to make these croutons when I have something else baking in the oven to avoid using a whole heap of energy for a few croutons)

3          Place the croutons in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the blue cheese and prosciutto pieces. Scatter on a shallow baking tray and bake for about 5 minutes or until golden and the cheese has melted. Set a timer and keep an eye on them because they go from golden to charcoal in a flash.

Instead of the croutons you could add a swirl of fresh cream, or sprinkle with a little crumbled blue cheese before serving.

p.s. If you enjoy reading Alchemy in the Kitchen please consider nominating it for the Bloggies!

Click the link before Monday 16th January - http://2012.bloggi.es/ - and scroll down to the Food or Writing sections - depending on which aspect you like best and nominate Alchemy as follows:

Nominee: Alchemy in the Kitchen     URL: www.alchemyinthekitchen.ie

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Omelette with Croutons – unsophisticated, but unashamedly delicious!

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What an egg-citing omelette!

We had a magically multiplying turkey this Christmas. It fed 19 people and there was still some left. It made sandwiches and delicious turkey soup and there was still some left. Great slices of it were wrapped and given away and there was still some left. Much as I love turkey, there comes a point when it’s enough already!

After all the rich food of Christmas, anyone who makes me the simple treat of a fried egg sandwich gets huge brownie points. It must be on squishy white bread – and lightly cooked so that, when cut, the yolk oozes out and soaks into the bread – sigh…

Another unsophisticated egg/bread combination that I love is this omelette stuffed with croutons. Plain or cheesy, I love both versions.

For an omelette to feed one, you will need…

Croutons

1 slice bread, crusts removed, cut into 1cm cubes

25g butter, melted

For the cheesy version, you’ll need

25g Gruyere, grated or 25g blue cheese, crumbled

¼ teaspoon fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 160˚C

1.                  To make the croutons, toss the bread cubes in the melted butter. If making the cheesy version, add the cheese and thyme, turning the bread cubes until coated in the mixture. Spread the cubes out on a shallow baking tray and bake in the preheated oven until golden – about 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 80˚C to keep them warm while you make the omelette.

Omelette

2 fresh eggs

a pinch of salt

freshly ground black pepper

25g butter

Have a warm plate ready as the omelette takes only a minute to cook and it’s a major culinary sin to put an omelette onto a cold plate.

2.                  Melt the butter in a small frying pan over a medium/high heat.

3.                  While the butter is melting, break the eggs into a bowl, add a little salt and pepper, and whisk lightly with a fork until the yolk is just combined with the white of the egg.

4.                  When the butter is melted and the pan is hot, pour in the egg mixture and let it spread across the base of the pan. Shake the pan back and forth over the heat so that the egg doesn’t stick and burn. When the egg has mostly set and the surface of the omelette is creamy, sprinkle the hot croutons down the centre of the omelette in a line covering roughly about 1/3 of the surface.

5.                  Using a spatula or fish slice, gently fold 1/3 of the omelette over the croutons, as if you were starting to fold a letter. Then tilt the pan so that the unfolded portion of the omelette slides onto the heated plate. Gently roll the rest of the omelette head-over-heels onto the plate to cover the unfolded portion, enclosing the filling completely.

Unashamedly unsophisticated (but utterly delicious!)

Eat immediately with a green salad while you wonder what to do with the rest of the never-ending turkey.

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Speaking of which, any turkey tips?

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