Season of Soup Part 3: French Onion

I’ll be honest.  I really wanted to make this soup because I finally had the perfect dishes in which to serve it.

Is that weird?

Don’t get me wrong: I also made it because it is stupendously delicious.  But I am of the opinion that presentation can help make food taste even better.  

The last time I made French Onion soup was because I had been given around thirty pounds of onions by a fellow teacher.  That was my first time making it, and it was good. 

But this time, it was better.

I followed a different recipe this time.  The only real difference was the addition of thyme.  I also melted provolone on top...because it's what I had.  It was delicious!

Find the recipe here.

Season of Soup Part 1: Szechuan

Chinese food.  Yum.

Growing up, at least a few times a month, we had a big Chinese dinner. 

I usually loved everything…except the shiitake mushrooms. But I’m over that phase now. 

My parents always cooked out of the same cookbook for Chinese night.  Now I have a copy of that same book and have been exploring some of the recipes we never made when I was little. 

One of my all time favorite soups is this one...chicken and corn soup.  

 

Most recently…Schezuan Soup.  It’s a good thing I am over disliking shiitake mushrooms, because this soup wouldn’t be half as good without them and the flavor they bring. 

 I basically followed the recipe exactly, substituting fresh bamboo shoots for water chestnut.  

It was delicious.

Szechuan Soup

1 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms

boiling water

6 oz. uncooked julienned pork

4 oz. cooked julienned ham

1 small red pepper, cut into strips

8 scallions, chopped

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

8 oz. firm tofu, chopped

2 quarts chicken stock

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 t. soy sauce

1/2 t. Chinese chili sauce

2 1/2 T. cornstarch

5 T. water

2 t. vinegar

1 t. sesame oil

1 egg

8 oz. uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined

1) Place mushrooms in bowl, cover with boiling water. Let stand 30 min. Drain. Remove and discard stems. Cut caps into thin slices.

2) Combine chicken stock, wine, soy sauce and chili sauce in 5-quart pot.  Cook over medium heat until boils.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 5 min.

3) Blend cornstarch and 4 T. of the water.  Slowly stir into soup. Cook until boiling.  Add mushrooms, pork, ham, red pepper and water chestnuts. Simmer uncovered 5 min. 

4) Stir vinegar and oil into soup. Beat egg and remaining 1 T. water together with fork.  Gradually drizzle egg into soup while stirring vigorously.  Add onions, tofu and shrimp.  Cook until shrimp is done, about 1-2 min.

Expanding Horizons

I am used to regular cheeseburgers.  You know, made with cheddar cheese.  To me, this is “normal.”  The “regular” version, if you will.  (ps-that junk they put on fast food burgers is not even real cheese. In fact, those aren’t even real burgers…or real food for that matter.)

For some reason, using other cheeses to top burgers never occurred to me.  Until a couple of years ago, that is.  I really started getting into other types of cheese. 

Since there is a significant lack of good cheese in Japan, cheeseburgers are not something we have on a regular basis.  Besides that, even Costco doesn’t fulfill my greatest dreams of cheese.  It is missing one of my all-time favorites…

…Jarlsberg.

Sigh.

Fortunately, I have been able to go on a Jarlsberg binge lately because some fantastic people sent me some for my birthday.  Best gift ever!  (In case you’re wondering, vacuum packed cheese does very well when sent overseas. Winkwink!)

Occasionally, Karl and I get our America on and have big, fat cheeseburgers for dinner.  The most recent instance resulted in the best burgers I had ever made.  Ever.

Remember these?  After devouring the steaks, we kept the leftover marinade.  It would have been a horrible waste to toss it!

I mixed some of the marinade into some ground beef with some panko and an egg.  Then fried them nice and slow.  They didn’t shrink at all.  Which means they fit perfectly onto the toasted bread.  

They were veritable gourmet hamburgers. 

What do you do when...

...someone gives you thirty pounds of onions?

You make French Onion Soup.  That's what you do.

Last week, one of the teachers at Obusuma Elementary school asked me if I like onions.  I said yes.  The next day, he showed up with a h-u-g-e bag of onions from his farm.  For me.

So I made soup...

This was my first attempt at French Onion Soup.  I poked around online looking for recipes and watching videos but ended up making my own version.

French Onion Soup is traditionally served over crusty, delicious French Bread, covered in cheese and then baked till the cheese is roasted. YUM.

Unfortunately, I don't have oven safe bowls.  So we had to do with dipping baguette and sprinkling with freshly grated Parmesan.  It could be worse.

So here is what I did:

7-8 onions (red, white, yellow combination)
2-3 T. olive oil
2-3 T. butter
one bulb of minced (I use a garlic press) garlic
salt
pepper

Heat up a pot over medium heat.  Let the oil come up to temp and melt the butter before adding the onions and garlic.  Saute over medium-low heat until the onions caramelize.  This will take about an hour.  Sprinkle on some S and P.  (I used freshly ground.)

1/4-1/2 c. Dry red or white wine
3-4 c. beef stock
3-4 c. chicken stock
1 t. dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Once the onions are beautifully caramelized, stir the wine. Stir in the stock, mustard, salt and pepper.

Simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with parmesan (or another cheese-our cheese choices are limited here.) Eat with a baguette.

So. Yummy.