Last night, while mid-way through a bowl of French Onion Soup, my favorite taster, critic and dinner companion remarked,
“I’ve eaten all kinds of French Onion Soup in my life but nothing has ever tasted this good.”
Wow, that’s some compliment, I thought. What a massage to my Ego.
Then, the next remark, “Dorie really hit it out of the ballpark this time!”
Ohhhhhh.
Little credit, please.
What could taste better on a February evening than French Onion Soup with Sancerre.
Délicieux. Merci, Dorie.
Many amateur chefs approach making French Onion Soup, this week’s choice for French Friday with Dorie, with trepidation. What’s so difficult about throwing a few onions in a pot, adding some broth, wine and cognac and topping it with bread and cheese? As my favorite little eight-year-old, Clara Place, says, “It’s twicky, really twicky.”
Primary Ingredients: Garlic and Sweet Spanish Onions. (In 2002 this onion was named Utah’s state vegetable. Honest.)
Cut onion in half from top to bottom. Cut lengthwise, in half, again, leaving root intact. Then thinly slice crosswise.
While not prepared to give Ms. Greenspan all the credit for this marvelous recipe, it is a great opportunity to raise the cognac snifter (well, someone had to drink the leftover cognac) and toast Dorie for her beautifully clear and well-written cookbook. Dorie takes you through each recipe, explaining very succinctly and better than most, the basic steps to a successful result.
For example, regarding onion caramelization, she writes, “Have patience: depending on the heat and the onions, this may take an hour or more. And don’t be tempted to try to speed things up, because if you burn the onions, your soup will have a bitter taste. On the other hand, if you don’t get the onions really brown, your soup will be pale in both taste and looks.”
It took one-hour and twenty-minutes for my onions to reach a perfect deep caramel color. Patience is a VIrtue.
Here’s some good and bad news about french onion soup. First, the bad. Not only did the French not invent french fries, they also cannot claim the rights to onion soup. The ancient Greeks enjoyed onion soup as did the Romans. Various versions even marched onto the pages of the more modern English and colonial American cookbooks. Onions were easy to grow, cheap, nutritious and considered poor people’s food.
A littler cognac, toasted baguette slices, Gruyère (a little extra, maybe) and ready to broil.
What the French can be credited for is adding cheese and bread. If the Greeks could construct the Parthenon and the empire-building Romans could pillage and conquer, why wouldn’t they have thought of that? This delicious addition was probably left to the Canuts, the laborers who did the weaving and screening of silk that sustained Lyon’s’ most famous industry. And, that’s the reason its official name is Soupe à L’oignon à la Lyonnaise.
The ingredients are already staples in your kitchen, basically, onions and garlic, oils, chicken broth, bread and cheese (I used a smoked Gruyère).
It’s your call whether to add the wine, during cooking, and cognac, before serving. Mix in, and these are the must-include ingredients, time (who has extra time???) and, patience (not part of my DNA). The result via Dorie is perfection.
Welcome to my new early-morning Coffee/Crossword morning-routine. While this might not seem strange to you – many folks begin each day by working through a crossword puzzle – it’s totally weird for me. Even weirder? I like it.
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper Photo by margotmagowan.wordpress.com
For more years than I can remember, most of my life, in fact, I’ve been a 5 a.m. early-morning-rise-and-shine type of gal. Mornings are my cup-of-tea, uh, make that bold coffee, French Roast, no additives. Before the sun climbs over the horizon, I have usually knocked an hour of exercise off my list, shampooed and showered, glanced at the newspaper over breakfast and am ready for work, errands, appointments or chores, whatever my busy day might offer. That’s a full day and translates to an 8:30 to 9 p.m. bedtime.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Welcome to a perfectly normal American lifestyle.
For me, what Year 2012’s all about is “slowing this train down”, a phrase adopted by my family. The train they seem to be referring to is me. I’m trying not to take offense at that but only if I can still remain the engine. It’s coming up for a vote at our next family meeting!
That’s why, these days, I’m all about Bathrobe-Coffee-Crossword. Throw in an extra hour of sleep and that may make me a downright slob!
Here’s the SNAP. Whether it’s a Crossword Puzzle, Sudoku or a daily dose of Jeopardy, it’s necessary and age-appropriate for us to choose some, any, a myriad of, mind-games-of-choice. Ten-thousand Baby Boomers are retiring each day. While that’s phenomenally exciting, there’s no gold watch awaiting our Brain.
Do you remember author Watty Piper’s bedtime story, The Little EngineThat Could (it was a She, by the way)? That little engine chugged along, never gave up, but needed help and assistance. That’s how I like to think about our Brains!
Our family meeting convenes Sunday night. I’m bringing the book.
Finally, February, and the long-awaited premiere of Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia. If there was an Oscar for recipe books, Baking with Julia written by Dorie Greenspan, would win one of those glitzy golden guys. While my Euros for best picture is on “Hugo”, Martin Scorsese’s magical 1930’s tale set in a bustling Paris train station, my time has been spent in the kitchen, polishing up my basic baking techniques. Focus, Mary, Focus.
For the past 23 years of high-altitude living (Aspen, 8200’), my baking has had issues. “Home-made” turned to “store-bought”. My best cookies, Nabisco’s Oreos. Sara Lee does my pound cakes. The Pillsbury Dough Boy? He’s cute. Lately, older but not wiser, I decided to give-it-a-go-again and joined with 300-some other bloggers to mix, measure, whisk and stir my way through this book based on Julia’s PBS Series. (HINT: My library carries the videos of this Series.)
Twice a month, on Tuesday, my battalion, The Baking 300, will join with me to present and comment on our chosen recipe. I expect to not only brush up on my techniques but also glean a few high-altitude nuggets from this group. And, to my Readers who ask, and, many already have, WHY I would want additional caloric baked goods in my house (thank you, gentle readers, for not adding “at your age”), this is my answer. The majority of the TWD participants are younger than I, from their late 20s to a slow cruise into their 50s. These Bloggers appear to be genuinely concerned about good nutrition, staying fit, and will tweak these recipes down a caloric-notch or two, if need be. I consider this a learning experience.
Don’t We All Love Julia? Buy the Book by Dorie Greenspan. Bake With Us.
My first attempt, Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, was, for me, fun and challenging. Since the recipe called for three different chocolates (bittersweet, white and milk) it helped that Dorie and Julia thought to provide a short tutorial on chocolate (pgs 7-8) in the book. Although Julia used Chocolate Dough, I used Dorie’s plain tart dough recipe from Around my French Table (pgs. 498-9) to take the richness down a beat.
Melting 3 different types of chocolate together is a little tricky.
Having already chilled the tartlet dough, I will prick the crust bottoms with fork tines before baking at 350 degrees.
In the spirit of full disclosure, my recipe analysis is shortened this week because my tarts were “shanghaied and decorated” a little too quickly!
Morals of this Picture: 1)The Cook should never nap while the tarts are cooling. 2)Perhaps Reddiwip shoud NOT be a refrigerator staple.
Let’s begin at the ending. To best describe this Week’s FFWD is to show off the dinner dregs. If this photo doesn’t illuminate the story for you foodies, nothing can.
Our At-home Bistro, following a Bon Appètit-Bonanza
This week’s recipe is supposed to be Mussels & Chorizo, with or without pasta, (page 316, Around My French Table). Since we are a pseudo-vegetarian household this Winter, I chose to serve Moules Marinière, or fisherman’s mussels, a recipe that should be in every cook’s repertoire of great, traditional dishes (page 312, Around my French Table).
The most difficult part of this simple recipe is buying the fresh mussels at your local fish market. Probably a pound per person. I purchased large, fleshy green-lipped mussels from New Zealand. Scrub them mightily and debeard as necessary. Go to your pantry for olive oil, onion, shallots, lemons and garlic. Pick some thyme and parsley from your herb garden. If you have a bay tree, pick a leaf. And, if you left some white wine in last-night’s bottle (that’s my problem, I never do), use it. The preparation is a snap. http://breadandbutternyc.typepad.com/blog/2011/06/mussels.html )
Lovin’ the fleshy, full-bodied Green-lips from New Zealand
For Moules Marinière, a repas is complete with just pommes frites (french fries), a baguette or two (for “the sop”), and, table wine. For this meal, no silverware is necessary. Use a 1/2 mussel shell as your fork. Paper towels (Bounty heavy-duty), rather than napkins. Break bread, literally.
This photograph does not need a caption!
I urge you to pick up a copy of Dorie Greenspans’ “Around my French Table”, her recipe book extraordinaire. Although she presents more than 300 recipes, her take on fish – cod, flounder, monkfish, skate, swordfish, salmon, tuna and shellfish – is worth the price of admission. If you’re a foodie, budget this book into next month’s purchases……… the cost being the same as two steaks, Porterhouse; OR a leg-of-lamb, bone-in; OR, a pound of halibut.
Jeopardy Question: The last great place in America where you can still receive something for nothing.
Jeopardy Answer: What is your local public library?
” I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card.” — Laura Bush, First Lady
Most of us carry library cards. The curious question? When did you last use it? Have you visited your local library lately? Actually walked through its doors?
The stacks are overflowing with books, magazines, newspapers, CD’s, DVD’s, (music and film) and Books-on-Tape (for every device). Many have framed pictures that you can borrow. Need the use of a computer? It’s available and free. Tax forms? Pick them up. A sticky question, lingering doubt or needing information? Stop by the Reference Desk. Some libraries even offer tutoring, free of charge. The restrooms are free and clean. The chairs, comfy.
Rush in. Rush out.
Linger.
Hang out.
Meet an old pal. Introduce yourself to a new friend.
Volunteer.
Participate in a library book club or attend a library-sponsored film.
HERE’S THE SNAP: PUBLIC LIBRARIES ARE ONE OF OUR MOST UNDER-APPRECIATED GOVERNMENT SERVICES. WHY NOT PAY A VISIT TO YOURS TODAY.
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P.S. Snap: Following it’s February 7th publication, Katherine Boo’s book, Behind the Beautiful Forever’s, is now #10 on Amazon’s current best-sellers List. Her Reviews are extraordinary. Look for it on next week’s New York Times List. I encourage you to read this book.
