onion

French Onion Soup, Revisited

by Lisa on January 8, 2013

So I did a dumb thing. After migrating to this URL, I deleted my original blog and when I did that, I lost all of the photos in my first 5 months of posts. And I never went back to replace them. Instead, I’ve started to remake those recipes and take new pictures. Let’s be honest, my food photography is not that great but it is leaps and bounds better than it used to be.

I shared this recipe for the first time only a few months after starting my blog, so let’s take another look at it. French onion soup is one of my favorites. I love when it’s served piping hot with a big crust of cheese melted over the top with a nice thick crouton beneath. While this recipe is not served in that way, the flavor is all there and is the perfect way to enjoy this restaurant favorite at home.

French Onion Soup

by The Splattered Apron

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: soup/stew

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Ingredients (serves 6-8)

2 1/2 pounds yellow onions, halved, and sliced 1/4-inch thick {about 8 cups}
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup of sherry
1/2 cup brandy or Cognac {I use brandy, we actually had some in the house!}
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
8 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
grated Gruyere

Instructions

Melt the butter in a good-sized pot. I used my Dutch oven. Then add the onions and bay leaf. Sauté for 20 minutes over medium-high heat, until they have a nice golden color but are not browned.

Next, deglaze the pan with the sherry and brandy. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, then add the wine. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Next, add the beef stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.

While the soup is simmering, slice the baguette into 1-inch thick rounds. Top with grated Gruyere then broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Remove the bay leaf from the soup, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf from the soup, add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls, top with a baguette round with cheese and more grated Gruyere, if you’re a fan of cheese.

I made a big pot of this soup for my family a couple of days after Christmas. While certainly not light food, this bowl of soup was warm and comforting after the hectic pace of Christmas. Even Caroline loved it!

I’m glad it’s only January—means we have a couple more months to enjoy soup. This one will most definitely be gracing our table again soon.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa.

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{ 6 comments }

Simply Summer {Grilled Vegetables}

by Lisa on July 28, 2011

I’m almost embarrassed to post this recipe as a “recipe,” because it is so simple and adaptable. We make this all summer, every summer—it’s not very pretty to look at, but it is delicious!

Despite the heat, we ventured to the farmer’s market pretty early on Saturday morning. Even if we don’t need a lot of produce {but let’s face it, that doesn’t happen} we like to go and walk around. I have a feeling this will be a fun family activity once our baby girl joins us! While there, we snagged some delicious summer produce and a buffalo steak for dinner.

Ingredients

1 zucchini, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
1 eggplant, sweat, rinsed and chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 package of mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
1/2-3/4 cup of olive oil
garlic
assortment of herbs, rinsed and minced {whatever is on hand, we used tarragon, sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme}
salt
pepper
2 lemons, juiced

Method

Mince all of the herbs and garlic. Use whatever herbs you want—Jeromy just went out back and picked these out of our garden.

Prepare all of the vegetables, then combine with the herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir well to coat all of the vegetables.

Using a grill pan {or tinfoil if you don’t have a grill pan} cook the vegetables on the grill for 3-4 minutes. Then stir them up and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes. They should be cooked through and slightly browned when removed from the grill. Only a grill or high-end range can put out the BTUs necessary to cook this much vegetable in 6-8 minutes. A regular range is going to need longer. Also, cooking on a grill gives the vegetables a nice smoky flavor that can be imitated with liquid smoke if this is cooked indoors.

Before serving, mix in the lemon juice.

This is a great side dish for a crowd and you can adapt it to suit what you like. Don’t care for eggplant? Sub with tomatoes! Don’t care for onions? How about peppers instead? Make this recipe your own—have fun with it!

We always end up with more grilled vegetables than we can eat in one sitting, but luckily, they make great leftovers. I love eating them for lunch over arugula with some feta cheese.

Enjoy!

{ 2 comments }

On the Side {Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

by Lisa on June 1, 2011

I absolutely love corn on the cob. In fact, I love corn in any form. Corn is the only canned vegetable that I can stand to eat. But getting fresh, sweet corn on the cob is hard to come by most of the year, so as soon as it started showing up at Trader Joe’s and the farmer’s market, I grabbed some!

Unfortunately, when I was at the store this weekend they did not have any unshucked {is that word?} corn, so I had to buy 4 packaged ears. I had in my mind that I wanted to make corn salsa for when Leah came over for lunch on Memorial Day and I wasn’t going to let a package of partially shucked corn deter me.

I also had it in my mind that I had a can of black beans at home. Nope, not true. So I used chickpeas instead. And taking a cue from Mama Pea, I shelled them. The whole can. The change in texture was absolutely worth it.

{Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

Ingredients

3 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
2 avocados, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 limes, juiced
1/2 of a red onion, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 package cilantro, chopped
1 can chickpeas, shelled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Method

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt and add the ears of corn. Allow to boil for 5 minutes; remove corn from boiling water and cool.

Meanwhile, dice the avocados, green pepper, red onion, tomatoes and chop the cilantro.

In a separate bowl, combine the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper {to taste} and whisk.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then squeeze them out of their translucent skins. Discard the skins.

Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off of the ear.

Next, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in the dressing and mix well.

Serve in a fun glass with tortilla chips. Or eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon, like Leah and I did.

The verdict from Jeromy, Leah and I was that this is delicious. It’s light and refreshing on a hot day.

The only thing I would change about this recipe is to add an additional tomato and more lime. Maybe even a fresh jalapeno pepper just to make things even more interesting.

This is great especially when it’s a hot day out. If the grill is already on, why not grill the corn instead of boiling it? I bet that would provide another depth of flavor.

Enjoy!

{ 5 comments }

Backyard BBQ {Korean Steak Tips}

by Lisa on May 11, 2011

Backyard BBQs–one of the best things about summer! To me, there is literally nothing better than throwing some food on the grill, sipping a cold drink and hanging out with my husband until the sun goes down, forcing us inside {but only until my dad comes back and installs an electrical outlet on our patio!}

After living in our new house for over a week, tonight seemed like it was time to break in the patio and grill. I adapted this recipe from one I’ve used many time that I found in Food & Wine magazine. It is absolutely delicious and will leave you wanting more!

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 pound of steak tips
1 red onion, cut into one inch chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into one inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut into one inch chunks
8-10 mushrooms
Korean Sizzling Beef marinade {see below}

For the marinade:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons white wine {dry is best, but I used what I had on hand since we’re not drinking right now}
1 tablespoon minced garlic {or 2 large garlic cloves, minced}
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes {I used slightly less as the flakes I have are REALLY hot}

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade in a Ziploc bag.

Add the meat.

Seal the bag with little air in it and mix so the meat gets coated well with the marinade.

Stick the bag o’ meat in the fridge for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Shortly before dinner, prepare your grill {or in my case, ask your husband to do it }

Take the meat out of the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies to be skewered.

Then, start skewering! There’s really no rhyme or reason to it, I just try to put some aromatic vegetables near the meat {like the red onion}.

Next, to the grill. Grill to your desired level of doneness, we left ours on, turning the skewers periodically, for about 15 minutes. Normally we like meat cooked around medium rare, but since I’m pregnant, I’ve been eating meat cooked medium to medium well.

Once the skewers are off the grill, let them rest for about 5 minutes, then serve.

What did we eat on the side? Kale, of course! And rice pilaf.

This is more than enough to feed two people, we had dinner and leftovers. This combination of flavors is one of my favorites—I use this marinade time and time again.

When it comes to food, we are getting to my favorite time of the year filled with farmer’s markets, summer produce and light but delicious meals. And of course, the nice weather means sharing meals outdoors with family and friends.

What’s your favorite part of summer eating?

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine magazine.

{ 3 comments }