French Onion Soup

This past Thursday I had my French class that I taught, and we made a few French dishes that I love to eat.  Among them we made, Steak au Poivre (Pepper Crusted Steak) with a Cognac Sauce, Ratatouille, Crepes with an Apple Caramel Sauce and French Onion Soup. 

Now after going to Culinary School, and taking my Classical Cuisine class (which was a restaurant run class serving "classical French foods") I have ingrained in my head where I can no longer call it French Onion Soup.  Because in that class, it was a French menu, therefore according to one of my instructors it should simply be called Onion Soup because the French should have been a given.

But for the purposes of this blog that is neither here nor there, just a little insight on how my brain functions.  Anyway.....French Onion Soup, something that my mother has been asking me for years to make her.  Not sure why, but when I started my culinary venture, she just said she would really like me to make it for her at some point.

And I am sorry to say for years up until this point I have played the bad daughter roll because I haven't made it for her.  It was one of those things that I was always so-so on because the recipe always seemed so simple.  What could be so special about onions in a beef broth with bread and some gruyere cheese?  But it's those very things that make this a delicious dish for all to indulge in, and of course I made my momma happy when I presented her with a bowl of this.
Enjoy

French Onion Soup
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
3 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 quarts  beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound Gruyere, grated

Directions:
1.  Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 
2.  Add the wine and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes.  Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
3.  Add the flour in with the onions and stir.  Turn the heat down to medium low, and cool out the raw flour taste, about 5 minutes.  Pour in beef broth and bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.  Season to taste, with salt and pepper.
4.  Preheat your broiler when your close to serving the soup.  Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Load the slices with Gruyere cheese and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.  Broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
5.  Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.


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Cream of Broccoli Soup

 

Here lately I have been on a huge kick to try and find out what each day of the year meant and do something food related with it.  Which is way more time consuming then I thought at first, and might take me a minute to get into the swing of trying to do things ahead of time-but I'm getting there.




4 months of writing what each day means-my hand hurt after

Take yesterday for example; it was National Homemade Soup Day and Stuffed Mushroom Day, so how in the world could a day like yesterday go wrong.  Well unless you’re a mushroom hater, but I stuck with the soup aspect so that saves the day for them.  Luckily I made it to the store to get everything I needed for this recipe before the storm started (more snow, imagine that).  I literally closed my door behind me and then looked out the kitchen window and it was just coming down.  I think an inch an hour is how fast it came down at first.  Anyway, with it being snowy and cold and blah outside it was pretty much a perfect evening to be making soup.

 
I have to be honest though.  I am not the biggest Broccoli Cheddar Soup fan.  I’m not opposed to it, and I don’t mind the homemade kind (depending on how you make it).  But the store bought kind that come in a beautiful bread bowl that makes you think it’s going to be absolutely, amazingly delicious…and then turns out to be a cheddar loaded cheese bomb.  This is all personal preference, so please don’t bash me for it, if you love it that’s greats because it lived up to what you wanted.  But for me, I like cheddar cheese, but the main point in getting this soup is I want to taste the broccoli (Again, maybe it’s just me, I do have food issues).  It just always seems to taste a whole lot more like cheese, and carrots and everything else but broccoli.

Thus Cream of Broccoli Soup made an appearance at my house, and with not one ounce of any kind of cheese added to it.  It is simply broccoli at its best I think, and has the rich and jam packed flavor of broccoli that I have been looking for in a soup.  Plus I got to use my brand new handy dandy immersion blender which is always an added bonus in my book.  Enjoy J


Cream of Broccoli Soup
Ingredients:
4 tbsp. butter
1 large onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound broccoli, chopped
3 cups chicken veloute sauce, hot**
4 cups chicken stock, hot
4 fl. oz. heavy cream
Kosher salt and black pepper,
Broccoli florets, blanched

Directions:
1.  Sweat the onions, celery, garlic, and broccoli in the butter, without browning.  Cook until the onion is almost translucent and the celery and broccoli are almost tender.
2.  Add in your veloute sauce (see ** below for more information on this).  Bring to a simmer and then continue to cook until all of the vegetables are tender, around 10 minutes.
3.  Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender, working in batches blend the soup in a blender and return to pot.
4.  Thin the soup to the consistency you would like using the chicken stock, you do not have to use the entire amount called for.
5.  Bring the soup to a simmer once it is at your desired consistency, add in the cream.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6.  Serve soup in bowls and garnish with the blanched broccoli florets and croutons if desired.

 

 

 

**Veloute is one of the five mother sauces.  It is usually used with a chicken or fish stock (a lighter stock) and a blond roux.  For this recipe I used 4 tbsp. of butter and melted this in a small stock pot over medium high heat.  I then added 4 tbsp. of flour (you want equal parts butter to flour when making this) and whisked this to incorporate it and let it cook for a few minutes so that the blond roux could form and the flour was cooked down.  It should have a nutty smell to it.  I slowly whisked in 3 cups of chicken  stock, then turned the heat to low and kept it at that until I needed it for the soup recipe. 

 

 Want More Soup Try?

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

    

     The SNOWPOCALYPSE is here?  Is it really?  Well, at this point only time will tell, in our little town here in Indiana a potential of 12 inches and wind chills that could go as low at -40 is pretty intense.  Ok, for most places that might be intense, how our northern and eastern states deal with this regularly for winter is beyond me.  And I am in awe of your dedication to continuing to battle it out every year.  Me on the other hand, the very idea of a "snowpocalypse" has me thinking about packing up my car right this very minute and pulling an all nighter to drive to the sunshine state of Florida. (...Remind me again why I'm not in Florida right now in the first place???) 
     All sun shine and kidding aside, the temperature is honestly one we're just not used to.  It's predicted to be record lows and this brings on the grocery store rush.  We've all been there, whether for a snow storm or not, most have dealt with some sort of situation that bears "stocking up."  But what are we were stocking up on, and why?  Watching the news they say that milk, bread and eggs are flying off the shelves, and I have to wonder why.  I can get milk and bread-but eggs?  Unless your planning on hard boiling your eggs ahead of time what exactly are you planning on doing with eggs in the event that your power goes out or you lose water or heat.  If anyone know this answer, I am up for the explanation.  And maybe it's a silly question and the answer is staring me flat in the face, it's just one that I always wondered about and couldn't quite figure out.  (Now I will admit, I did stock up on eggs.  But this is due to the fact that I hard boiled half of them for snacks and salads and such-plus I like eggs for breakfast.) 
   The other thing the news said was chili, people were stocking up on food items to make some chili.  And why not, it's going to be COLD and people want comfort food and warmth.  Something about finding that perfect bowl of goodness that just warms you up and makes you feel good is the single best thing about the winter.  It reminds you of mom, holidays, cozy fires and family, and most every family has their own signature way of making chili.  Beans or no beans, are you really supposed to add noodles or no?  Some like it spicy, and some just want to load it up with every different kind of meat you can and throw crackers and cheddar cheese on top.  And thinking about this made me realize, I don't have one yet!  How can that be, how do I not have a ultra top secret chili recipe that has "that one special something that people can't quite pinpoint but it's the thing about it they love," how has this not happened yet?????  Honest answer, I have no clue.  I haven't tried yet or experimented, but given that my guy does a chili cook-off every year this is something I need to rectify soon. That way I can be a contributing member to the team when the time comes, plus I want an ultra top secret chili recipe of my own!  But until then, I decided that I could share a different comfort food.  One that still gives you that warm, comfy, cozy feeling-Chicken Tortilla Soup.  This could be done in the crockpot (I gave this as a freezer meal gift for my brother for Christmas, and got high marks of approval at the results) or on the stove top.  This is my freezer version, but if you need stove top directions just ask :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breast
15 oz. can whole corn kernels
15 oz. can diced tomatoes
can black beans, drained
5 cups chicken stock
1 onion, small chop
1 green pepper, small chop
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Tortilla chips

Directions:
Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  Take chicken out before serving and shred and tern to crock pot.  Serve in bowls, topped with Monterey Jack cheese, tortilla cheese and cilantro to taste.

****I'm going to go ahead and add the stove top directions for this now.
1. Dice chicken into 1 inch pieces.  In a large pot over medium heat, add olive oil and sauté chicken pieces for about 5 minutes, season with salt and black pepper.  Add in you chopped onion, green bell pepper and jalapeno and continue sautéing until chicken is almost cooked through and vegetables have become soft.
2.  Then add in your garlic, cumin, chili powder and cook for about another minute or until you can start to smell your garlic.
3.  Add in your chicken broth, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans.  Reduce you heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
4.  To plate, put corn tortilla chips in the bottom of your bowl and top with some of the soup.  Sprinkle the top with some shredded cheese and cilantro.

Want more soup?
.......Cream of Broccoli Soup