Let it be known that I am not enjoying this hour of day. I most definitely do NOT want to be awake right now. But, alas, silly me forgot to turn my alarm clock (er... rather... phone) off and it woke me up at 8. :( True, today is a Monday and I would normally be awake by this time for class at ten... But... today marks the first official day of my "Study Break". McGill is so optimistic with this name... who actually studies over break? Well... I guess I will be, on account of I am stuck here in Montreal while others are frolicking with their families at home or in far-off warm climates. Woe is me, yes? The good news is that during my one day alone (the one day I had the apartment completely to myself, when all the roommates left and before one of them returned) I got a chance to clean clean clean. Ha. Sounds exciting, I know, but this place gets so darn messy. I swept the floors, mopped, cleaned the dishes (loaded the dishwasher the way I like it, ha), and cleaned the counter... which included windexing the stove top. :P This relative cleanliness will probably not last until the end of the week... but for now it looks pretty good.
Okay... enough ranting about my sorry life... onto the food. It has been ages since I've posted anything... which is, admittedly, a problem for me, keeping up a writing regime. However, don't be misled by my lack of rigor in regards to blogging... I have definitely not stopped cooking... I have however been slacking in the photography department as well. :( Man... I am awful at this. Ha. I'll try to make up for that this week by taking pictures of ALL the food I make... which hopefully amounts to a lot. :)
As for now, I will delight you with a meal I made a while ago. French Onion Soup. I have been dying to make this meal for years. Winter always makes me yearn for this steaming, cheesy, oniony goodness. It just seems to be the epitome of warm and cozy... perfect for a drearily cold evening in Montreal.
I adore everything about this soup. First of all, it is a soup made completely of onions. How can you go wrong? Onions might be one of my favorite foods and, along with freshly baked bread, the perfume of sauteed onions is definitely a favored kitchen smell. Then, there's the individual bowls that look so darn adorable and makes this soup even more enticing. Add to that some crusty baguette slices topped with ooey-gooey melted cheese. Oh man... excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. In addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from devouring (and looking at) this soup, I also love the process. Yes, it is a long one, but I like dishes that take longer to prepare. Not only does it taste better once it's made (as, by that point, I am most definitely starving), but I feel like the more time you put into a dish, the more time you have to send it your good energy and loving vibes. :)
This recipe was discovered on Cooks Illustrated's website... when I was on my free week trial. What a great magazine, though. I would always buy them for long car trips with the family, but should really start buying them on a regular basis. They churn out a lot of great, tried-and-true recipes and tips. Anyways... since my free trial had expired, I took to the internet to see if a fellow blogger had posted the recipe anywhere. Luckily, I stumbled across a blog entitled Cookography which had the recipe entitled "The Best French Onion Soup (... ever!)". Yippee! This was the exact recipe I was looking for, so I thank you Luke and Carolyn of Cookography for enabling me to make this b-e-a-u-tiful soup. :)
Apparently, traditional French Onion Soup is made on the stove top, which demands constant watching over and stirring. This recipe requires caramelizing the onions in the oven, bringing out more of that delicious oniony flavor and saving my sanity a bit. As for the ingredients... everything (well... almost everything) I put into this came from the ever so lovely Jean Talon market (save for the chicken broth which I had made myself at an earlier date). How I adore that place. Every time I venture there it is an adventure (and not just because I usually get a bit turned around and slightly lost when I go). So much great, local food in one place.
Alright... I feel as if I have rambled on quite enough about this recipe, now it's time to actually share it with you all, so here it goes...
Oh, before I continue, though, it should be mentioned that the best flavor is achieved a day or two after making this soup. Also, the onions can be prepared, through step one, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to three days before proceeding with the recipe.
THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP
Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated via the Cookography bloggers
Serves: 6 (or just me for several days :P)
Ingredients
- 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
- 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole-to-pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices
- Salt
- 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
- 1/2 cup dry sherry (I, foolishly, neglected to buy this item thinking I would have no other use for it and not wanting to waste the money, so I used red wine vinegar instead. I assumed I would enjoy the additional tanginess, but next time I will definitely opt for the sherry.)
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (again... I used my own :D)
- 2 cups beef broth (This was purchased from Jean Talon and actually looked like hand made broth, with bits of the herbs still floating in it, as opposed to that boxed stuff you buy from the grocery store which was probably never touched by human hands until it reached its box.)
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
- 1 bay leaf
- Ground black pepper
- 1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 8 oz. shredded Gruyere cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)
Directions
For the Soup:
Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 400 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot, add the onions, and a teaspoon of salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot. Return to the oven, with the lid slightly ajar, and continue to cook until the onions are soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the sides of the pot after one hour.
Carefully remove the pot from the oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle the pot (don't forget you JUST took this scorching pot out of the oven), cook onions, stirring frequently and, again, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the bottom of the pot is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any dark, caramelizey goodness that collects on the spoon back into the onions.)
Stir in 1/4 cup of water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen the crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until the onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust that has accumulated on the bottom and sides of the pot.
Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the croutons:
While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
To serve:
Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual (and oh so adorable), broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups of soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle with Gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Voila! Then it's time to eat and revel in all it's oniony, cheesy fantasticness.
Oh how I wish I had this steaming bowl in front of me right now. **sigh** What a delight this was to eat... day after day after day.
So that's it... the BEST french onion soup. This is definitely a keeper of a recipe. :)
Oh, right, before I leave... my roommate, from Brazil, returned from a week in Florida with her visiting family yesterday (lucky little ba... er... girl) toting a ginormous wheel of authentic Brazilian cheese. (Apparently this is a highly sought after cheese in Brazil, as she squealed with joy upon presenting this beauty of a cheese wheel to me.) It's quite delicious, and nothing like I expected it to be, slightly soft and very flavorful. I'd assumed it would be a super mild cheese on account of it's white and soft and doesn't give off the appearance of being particularly strong, but it can definitely hold its own flavor wise. (The cheese wheel excited me too... so I thought it necessary to share with you.)
Alright... now I've gotten myself hungry. Time to root around in the fridge for something to satisfy my desire.
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