French Onion Soup

French onion soup can be either really great or really not so great and it all depends on the quality of ingredients. Imagine how hollow it could be if the stock was made from a bullion cube, the bread was a slice of HFCS laden supermarket “French bread” and the whole thing was topped with a waxy, mass-produced domestic “Swiss” cheese (I’m going to sound like a total cheese snob here, but there are hundreds of different types of cheese that come from Switzerland. There is not just one “Swiss Cheese”. There. I said it.), rather than an authentic Gruyere? The soup would be thin and over-salted, the bread would turn to an algae-like substance and the cheese would form a tough skin when broiled, rather than melting and mingling.

Fortunately, it’s not prohibitively expensive or difficult to find quality ingredients for French Onion soup, and it makes a world of difference in the end result.

This recipe calls for homemade beef stock, a good baguette with a thick crisp crust and open crumb, and a good authentic Gruyere cheese. If you live in an area with good artisan cheese makers, you may be able to find an local equivalent to Gruyere, but be sure to test it out first to see if it works. Sometimes cheeses can become stringy when added to soup and that makes for a less appetizing appearance and texture.

To get a light essence of garlic into the soup, burnish the bowl and toast with a halved piece of garlic. This combined with dry white wine, good cheese and French bread makes this soup reminiscent of a good fondue.

French Onion Soup – Serves 2

3 yellow onions, quartered and sliced
2 T butter
1 dash of salt (or 3 grinds from salt grinder)
1 t brown sugar
1 T flour
1/2 C dry white wine
4 C beef stock
2 – 4 thick (1/2 – 1 inch) slices of French bread
1 clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half
4-6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Melt butter in a large stockpot. Add onions and cook over medium-low heat until creamy and softened, about 10 minutes. Add brown sugar and continue cooking until golden brown, 20 more minutes on medium-low. Stir in flour, being sure to evenly coat the onions and cook 10 minutes, still on medium-low heat.

Increase heat to medium-high and add wine. Stir to blend the wine with the onion and flour paste, scraping up the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Stir in beef stock and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Occasionally skim any foam from the top and stir.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toast the pieces of bread – depending on the thickness of the baguette, you may need two toasts per bowl. Rub the toasts and oven-proof soup crocks with raw garlic.

Divide the finished soup into two crocks, float toast on top and cover with grated Gruyere. Place soup crocks in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until cheese reaches desired level of meltiness. This could range from just bubbling to browned.

Slow Cooked Beef Stock

It is raining, cold and windy here today. There are whitecaps out on the water and raindrops on the windows. It’s the perfect weather for making a nice soup. Homemade stock makes all the difference with soup. Sure, it’s easy to open up a carton of beef or chicken stock, but it’s just as easy to make a good stock at home, it just takes a little while longer.

A few simple ingredients arranged in the slow cooker, covered with water, and voila! 12 hours later, you have a rich, flavorful stock and a house filled with the aroma of homemade soup. What’s great about using the slow cooker for stock is that you don’t have to keep an eye on it or worry about it boiling over. Even set to high, the water content of the stock keeps it just under a simmer. Marrow lends sweet undertones to the stock and the veggies keep the beat.

Note: After a chat with our friendly butcher, I learned that marrow is sadly under appreciated these days and because it is, it’s always a good idea to ask the butcher for a fresh cut of marrow or soup bone if you’re buying it in a supermarket, because (horrors!) due to low demand, they often don’t replace the bones that are out in the refrigerator case and they could be a few days old.

Slow Cooker Beef Stock – Makes 4 cups

1.5 lb beef marrow bone
1 large potato, peeled
2 carrots
1 onion
1 celery
3 sprigs parsley
2 quarts water

Loosely chop vegetables and arrange the bones, vegetables, parsley and peppercorns in slow cooker.

Cover with 2 quarts water and cook on high for 12 hours.

Using a slotted spoon, remove bones and large vegetables from stock to prevent splatters. Pour the rest through a mesh strainer and into a stockpot or heat proof bowl (or whatever… it’s your kitchen). Discard bones and vegetables.

Allow the stock to cool in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Remove solidified fat with a slotted spoon.

Use the stock to make a tasty homemade soup, sauce or gravy.

Ingredient origins: Beef marrow bone – unknown; Organic potato – Maine; Organic Carrots – unknown; Organic onion – Washington; Organic celery – unknown; Organic parsley – Massachusetts; Peppercorns – India. As you can probably guess, a lot of these ingredients were purchased at a conventional supermarket, which is an unfortunate fact of life in winter in New England. Sometimes the best we can do is purchase as thoughtfully as possible, given the circumstances, so in this case I tried to keep to organic produce. Oftentimes though, even if an item is raised organically, the location of origin is not disclosed because the distributor buys from many different suppliers. I think it may be time though to consider signing up for a meat share

Greek Style Cod Soup

This week’s Community Supported Fishery catch was cod. We currently have a freezer full of fish cakes and we’ve roasted quite a few fish whole since signing up for the CSF. So I decided to set Wayback Machine to 2006 and go over to my trusty recipe box for ideas. I had worked on this recipe for a while before settling on the right proportion of ingredients.

As you know, soups and stews are great in cold weather. While the traditional players this time of year can be rich and heavy, Greek Style Cod Soup is light, nutritious and satisfying. Seasoned simply with salt, pepper and parsley, the flavor of the fish is allowed to stand on it own.

Greek Style Cod Soup – serves 4- 6

2 quarts water
1 t sea salt
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C freshly chopped parsley
2 carrots, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced, or 1 1/2 C cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
3/4 C white rice
3 lb cod fillets, cut into large 3 – 5″ pieces
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large stockpot. Add vegetables, rice, oil and half of the parsley. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

Add cod, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. It’s important to check on it occasionally be sure the simmer does not become a rapid boil or the fish could fall apart.

Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with the remaining parsley.

Ingredient origins: Sea salt – Maine; Olive oil – Italy; Organic parsley – Rhode Island; Organic carrots – California; Tomatoes – Mexico; Onion – California; Potato – unknown; Rice – California; Cod – Atlanic Ocean right outside our door.

Classic Beef Stew with Dumplings

This type of meat stew washed up on the New England shores with the colonists. If the Puritans hadn’t already been making it in England, they likely learned it from the Dutch (the Puritans, who eventually landed in New England, originally fled to the Netherlands before leaving for America).

On a trip to the Netherlands a few years ago, I was invited to dinner at the home of a local family. The meal was described as “truly Dutch”. It was a beef stew that was almost identical to what I’d been raised on in New England.

Great for warming up a house on a dark winter day, hearty and nutritious, beef stew is the original stick-to-your-ribs meal. I like mine with dumplings. It’s like having fresh baked bread on top of your stew.

Classic Beef Stew with Dumplings

Yield: serves 4-6

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hour 20 min

1 1/2 lb beef (any stew cut) cubed
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil
15 pearl onions
15 small to medium mushrooms
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped scallion
2 tablespoons chopped sage
1 quart vegetable or beef stock
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup light cream or half and half

Start by peeling the onions. To do so blanch them in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cut off the root and make a slight knotch in the skin (a paring knife works well for this). Pinch the opposite end. The onion should easily slip from the skin. Remove any remaining long strands or dark spots.

Toss the beef with salt and the 1/4 C flour. Heat canola oil in cast iron dutch oven (or oven-proof stockpot) over medium-high heat. Add the beef and sear on all sides. Reduce heat to low and pour one cup of stock over the beef and stir to break up any bits stuck to the pan. Add the vegetables, scallion, sage and the rest of the stock. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1/2 hour.

Move to a 325 degree oven and braise uncovered for 2. 5 hours, stirring occasionally. (I use the oven for this rather than the range because the stew cooks more evenly and there’s less risk of burning the bottom.)

Make the dumpling batter by combining the 1 C flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Stir in the cream and oil.

Using a greased tablespoon, scoop dumpling batter into the stew. Cover and return to the oven for 10 minutes to allow the dumplings to brown. Remove cover, move the rack closer to the top of the oven, increase heat to 450 degrees and cook for another 15 minute. This will lightly brown the dumplings.

Serve hot with a good glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ingredient Origins: Organic grassfed beef – Maine; Flour – Vermont, Organic pearl onions and carrots – California; Parsnips – New Hampshire; Scallion – my own kitchen; Sage – Massachuestts, Cream – Massachusetts

Potato Celeriac Leek Soup with Chorizo

After what’s beginning to seem like weeks of heavy Thanksgiving leftovers, I decided it was time for a light meal. I wish I could be one of those people who can be satisfied with a light cleansing soup of just boiled vegetables, but I’m not. Call me greedy. Call me anemic. Either way I need protein and iron, even if it’s just a small amount to round out a meal.

Today was farmer’s market day and I picked up some lovely winter vegetables – leeks, celeriac (celery root), beets, potatoes, cabbage and a stalk of Brussels sprouts. I also stopped by the local meat stall and bought a pound of fresh chorizo made from naturally raised pork.

The following is a very satisfying, flavorful and low-fat soup. Perfect for a light post-feast meal. I only used one sausage in this recipe both to keep it light and also to keep the flavor focused on the soup. The chorizo adds the perfect amount of spice to complement the celeriac’s sweetness, and browning brings a needed crisp texture to this otherwise smooth soup.

Potato Celeriac Leek Soup with Chorizo – serves 2

1 T butter
3 small or 2 large leeks, tops removed, cleaned and chopped
3 small or 2 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium celeriac, peeled and chopped
3 C chicken or vegetable stock
1/4- 1/2 t smoked salt
1 fresh chorizo sausage
1 T sour cream
1 T chopped scallion

In a large stockpot, melt butter and add leeks. Cook until softened, 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, potatoes and celeriac. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.

Meanwhile slice chorizo into discs. Heat a skillet over a medium flame and add chorizo slices. Brown either side, then cover for 5 minutes.

Transfer soup to a heat resistant blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

Garnish with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped scallion. Top with cooked chorizo.

Ingredient origins: Butter – Maine; Organic leeks, celeriac, potatoes, scallions – Massachusetts; Organic chicken stock – Oregon; Smoked sea salt – Maine; Fresh chorizo – New Hampshire; Sour cream – Dallas (normally I buy sour cream from Vermont since there are such fantastic dairies, but this was the only one I could find the day before Thanksgiving)