Thank goodness Christmas is over! I don't think I could take another week of the same songs played over and over when you're shopping. It's really enough to drive someone crazy!
Anyway, I've been in a cooking frenzy the past couple of weeks. Here's a rundown of what was prepared in my house since my last post:
French Onion Soup
Homemade Egg Nog
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Orange Apricot Syrup
Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Cherry Pie
And last night we cooked the turkey breast we were going to have on Christmas until we were invited to a friends house. So last night was roast turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and carrots. A rather easy but very tasty meal.
So here's the recipe for the French Onion Soup. I got it from Cooks Illustrated (and I'm going to try to recite it from memory because I don't have the recipe in front of me):
Ingredients:
6 Yellow Onions (about 4 lbs. Don't use Vidalia Walla Wallas as they will be too sweet)
4 TB butter
2 Cups Water (plus more to deglaze)
1/2 Cup Dry White Sherry
4 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Cups Beef Broth
6 Thyme Sprigs tied together with twine
1 bay leaf
And for serving:
1 Loaf Crusty French Bread
1 Hunk Gruyere Cheese
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large dutch oven, add butter. Peel and half onions and then slice into thin to medium thin slices and add to the dutch oven. Place dutch oven covered in the oven on the lowest rack and cook for 1 hour. Remove dutch oven and stir onions and scrape any fond off the bottom of the pot. The onions should have reduced to half their size. Leave the lid slightly open and place dutch oven back in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring the onions after the first hour.
remove pot from the oven and place over a medium high burner and reduce any of the liquids that are in the pan. scrape any fond on the sides and bottom of the pot. Once the liquid has reduced and the bottom of the pot starts to turn brown, add 1/4 cup of water and deglaze the pan. Reduce the water and then deglaze again. Repeat this process one more time with the water and then add the sherry and deglaze again. Once the sherry has reduced, add the broths, water thyme and bay leaf and simmer for 1/2 hour. While this is happening, slice bread in 1/2 inch pieces and put on a cookie sheet in the 450 degree oven for 10 minutes.
After the soup has simmered for 1/2 hour, remove thyme and bay leaf. Ladle soup into oven proof bowls. place bread on top of soup and grate cheese on top. place in the oven and cook until cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.
