Onion Soup

I don't know why I save onion soup for special occasions. It's relatively simple to make, and is one of Len's favorites. Maybe it's that I've never considered such a brothy soup hearty enough for a meal, so I tend to use it as an appetizer, and how often do I serve multi-course meals (Christmas, maybe)?

Tonight I served onion soup and chicken noodle soup for this season's Soup Night kickoff, and with salad and bread it WAS enough for dinner. Maybe I'll make it for one of our family's favorite simple meals: soup, artisan bread, cheese, and apples.

This recipe is based on Mollie Katzen's from her Moosewood Cookbook. The most obvious change is that I usually use beef broth. A quadruple batch made about 5 quarts, in case you were wondering.

Onion Soup
5 cups thinly sliced onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
butter, as needed
1 quart stock or water (I use Swanson's 50% less sodium beef broth in a box)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
3 Tbsp dry white wine
1/2 tsp dry mustard
dash of thyme
a few dashes of white pepper
1 tsp honey
optional toppers:
skinny, dense French baguette
garlic cloves, peeled
shredded Italian cheese blend

• Cook the onions and garlic, lightly salted, in the butter in a kettle. Cook them until very-but-not-too brown. Use medium heat to cook them gradually and thoroughly. I leave the lid on for a long time, then cook uncovered to evaporate the liquid and promote browning. Watch carefully and stir more frequently during the uncovered stage. The onions will decrease dramatically in volume.
• Add remaining soup ingredients. Cook slowly, covered, at least 30 minutes.

You know how yummy onion soup is with bread and cheese broiled on top? Well, I don't have the correct bowls, so I improvise with this make-ahead variation:

• Slice a baguette (it must be skinny and dense) at a slight angle, about 1/4 inch thick. Put the slices on a baking sheet and broil. Watch carefully, and turn them over with tongs to brown both sides. You'll need to monitor closely, because the pieces will be done at different times.
• When all the slices are toasted, rub one side of each with fresh garlic.
• Spread the bread on the baking sheet again. Cover with shredded cheese. I use an Italian blend, but provolone or Gruyere or whatever you like is fine. (I don't recommend something stringy like all mozzarella.) Bake (this way all the pieces will be done at once) in the oven until the cheese is melted and maybe even a little bit golden.
• These goodies can be kept at room temperature and floated on top of your bowl of soup. We find that three or four slices fit nicely. They start out crunchy, but once they've soaked up some broth, the toppers can be cut and eaten with your spoon. Enjoy!

Pesto: Summer in a Bag

There's something cheery about serving pesto in February. That bright green, that summery smell--fantastic!

-

How to achieve enjoyment of this out of season treat? Well, you can buy pesto sauce in a jar (eh), or make your own with expensive grocery store basil. I prefer to harvest our basil, make several batches of sauce, and freeze it in small bags, which are easy to thaw and toss with pasta.

-

Elizabeth gave me this recipe many years ago. The only changes I've made are to put "Ever Fresh" in to save the bright color and to add some salt at serving time.

-

Pesto Sauce

2 1/2 cups fresh basil, washed then spun or patted dry

1/2 cup walnuts

4 large garlic cloves, pressed

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp "Ever Fresh" or equivalent (ascorbic acid), dissolved in 1 Tbsp water

-

Put everything in the bowl of a food processor (a double batch fits well). Process until smooth. Store flat in pint-size freezer bags, being sure to press out all the air. To serve:

1 pound pasta (reserve 2 cups cooking water)

1/2 tsp salt, optional

2 ounces cream cheese, optional

1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated

• Cook pasta in boiling water.
• Meanwhile, thaw pesto in a container of hot water, then scrape into a serving dish. If desired, add salt and cream cheese. Mash and mix to combine, adding some pasta water as needed. Reserve more pasta water before draining.
• Drain pasta and add to the sauce. Toss to coat, adding water as needed. Sprinkle with half the grated cheese, toss, add remaining cheese, and toss again. Serve with a smile.

Chocolate Mousse Pie

This is a perfect dessert for a crowd: creamy, chocolatey, incredibly rich, AND simple to make (really!). I found the recipe on epicurious.com (originally from Bon Appetit, Nov '92) several years ago. I've made it many times, and in the process have tweaked and tweaked, based on epicurious commenters' and my own experiences. The recipe below is my current version.

Chocolate Mousse Pie
28 Oreo cookies
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
pinch of salt
1 quart heavy whipping cream, divided
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
additional sugar and vanilla, to taste
chocolate shavings, optional

1. Finely grind cookies in processor. Add butter and process until mixture is evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of a 10" springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.
2. Put chocolate and salt in a food processor. Bring 1 cup cream to a boil in the microwave. With the processor running, gradually pour hot cream through feed tube and process until chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Cool to room temperature, stirring occassionally.
3. Beat 2 cups cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture. Spread over the prepared crust and chill until set, about 6 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.)
4. Beat remaining cream (with a splash of vanilla and about 2 Tbsp sugar) to stiff peaks. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Garnish top of cake with chocolate shavings, if desired, then pipe cream rosettes around the edge.

Serves 16+It may look like a disappointingly small piece, but because it is so rich, you'll be surprisingly satisfied.

Yesterday I successfully experimented with preparing individual servings for a party. For the "crust" I put Oreos in the bottom of foil muffin papers, then topped them with the filling (yield=28 each). They were set in less than six hours, but are easier to eat today because the cookies have softened enough to be eaten with a spoon.

Storage and transportation in the muffin pan is a handy option:I topped the mini-mousses with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. Since I used a store bought "shaker top" instead of whipping my own cream, the rosettes deflated in mere minutes, much to my distress. Next time that's one shortcut I won't take!

Bulgogi

Bulgogi is a classic Korean food, and perfect for summer grilling. It reminds me of an Asian taco: a lettuce "tortilla" filled with plain sticky rice and thin slices of marinated beef. The combination of crunchy, chewy, bland, and salty is fabulous!

A friend of mine was given this recipe by a Korean family she used to live near. The marinade ingredients can be tweaked to your taste.

-

One note: You need meat that is sliced quite thin. I get this (frozen) at an Asian market. It is called (at least here) "beef rib eye thin sliced" (see below).

A 2# package is about right for us.Okay, another note: This is best as a summer dish. Of course you can grill in the winter, but you've got to stand over it the whole time, and it's hard to see when the meat needs flipping in the dark of December. You can also broil, griddle, or saute the beef, but it's not as tasty.

-

Bulgogi

2# thin-sliced beef, thawed

3/4 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 large bunch green onions, minced (including stems)

romaine or leaf lettuce

2 cups white rice, cooked (jasmine is quick and sticky enough)

-

Combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and sesame seeds.

-

Place a single layer of meat in a casserole dish. Spoon a little marinade over it. Repeat layers until all meat and marinade are used up. See how skinny? I've had it even thinner, which is easier to eat (less chewy), but more fragile and thus more difficult to cook.Cover the dish and refrigerate several hours or overnight. The meat is so thin that starting in the morning gives it plenty of time to soak up flavor by dinner.

-

To cook, heat grill to high. Lay meat slices on grill. Turn once. If your grill is hot enough, you'll be able to starting turning as soon as you've laid out a full set of meat.

This former dietitian is still germ-phobic enough* to have an elaborate system involving paper towels and two spatulas to avoid cross contamination between the raw and cooked pieces, but I won't burden you with that description. ;-)

-

To serve, have a platter of lettuce leaves on the table along with a dish of rice and the platter of meat. People assemble their own food. We find it works best to have the meat on top of the rice, to help hold everything together.

Enjoy!

-

*My poor, deprived children are also not allowed to eat dough or batter containing raw eggs. Such a mean mommy!

Sugar Free Fruit Pie

Technically these pies are not "sugar free"--they're actually "no sugar added". I was bringing dessert to a gathering that included some folks who may not eat added sugar, but I still wanted to provide something homemade. I also didn't want to try actually baking with a sugar substitute; I'll bet there's a big learning curve, and sugar contributes a lot to texture (not just taste) in baking.

Anyway, after much pondering (I know, I know--get a life!), I figured out a way to make my summer fruit pie without sugar. I made sugar-free jello, and when it had chilled to the thick and gloppy stage I folded it into 3 cups of fruit. This was poured into a baked shell and covered with a little more jello.
The strawberry pie was gorgeous and also sliced very neatly. The blueberry pie (I used raspberry jello) didn't hold together as well, probably because it was piled into the super slumpy shell. I also didn't have as much "glaze" for the blueberries. Or maybe their packed together roundness kept the jello from surrounding them as well as the slices of strawberry. It was still quite tasty!I must admit I made real whipped cream (with sugar) for those who were able to indulge. Please don't hold it against me. :-)

Another caveat: I'm not saying this is necessarily a healthful variation. It depends on what you're careful about: sugar vs. artificial colors and aspartame. I think this is an option for the right situation.

Eating Humble Pie

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! Talk about hideous! When I bake an empty pie shell, I prick it all over with a fork (even the sides) and let it go. Sometimes it puffs up a little, but I just poke it a bit more during baking, and all is well. Sometimes the sides slip down a little, but not enough to matter for summer blueberry pie.

Yesterday, inspired by my sister-in-law, I tried a few variations on my usual technique. I rolled the dough inside Freeze-tite, a thicker plastic wrap that is 18" wide. What a great way to go--I didn't need extra flour, and the disk was easy to roll out and to transfer into the pie dish.

Innovation #2 was (ahem) less successful. Instead of my usual shortening, I used half butter and half shortening for the fat, trying to increase the tastiness factor. The dough was much softer. I could tell as a I transferred it and as I shaped the edges, but I decided to stick with my usual baking style anyway. You can see the results of such laziness:I had two pies to make, so I moved on to "blind baking", holding the crust in place with a piece of foil covered with weights (Split peas and lentils are what I had on hand.).I filled the foil to the tippity top because I was not just holding the bottom DOWN, but was also trying to keep the fluted edge UP. Somewhat better results, eh?Next time I'll pull the foil out a little sooner to give the top of the bottom (get it?) more time to brown.Which crust would you rather fill with yumminess? Yeah, me too.

And yes, the butter did add good flavor (although I've never minded the blandness of a Crisco crust) and maybe a little crispiness. I'm not sure if it's worth it to have such a soft dough, though. Maybe if I add a little less water...

Cherry Cobbler

As I've written before, we pick, pit, and freeze the sour cherries from our tree. Since their juiciness and sourness can vary each year, I consider a pie to be too tricky to bake. Getting the filling just the right degree of sweet and thick (but not too thick!) requires a lot of guesswork.

That's why I prefer to bake cherry cobbler. It's essentially a pie filling topped with a sweet biscuit. Soupiness doesn't matter, and ice cream or whipped cream can smooth out any over-tartness.

Over the years I've combined and fiddled with recipes, never feeling confident that I had a sure winner. Well now I've found it--in Cook's Illustrated's The Best Skillet Recipes. This is a great new book, with simpler (i.e. easier) dishes than many of their others.

You can bake the cobbler in the skillet if you have a 12" one that is ovenproof. Otherwise, make the filling in a pot and transfer to a greased casserole dish before topping with the biscuit dough and baking. I'll try to remember to post a picture the next time I make this delectable dessert.

For the record, I only tweaked this recipe a tiny bit. Here you go:

Sour Cherry Cobbler
Biscuit Topping
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Cherry Filling
3/4 - 1 cup sugar, depending on your fruit
3 Tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
~4 cups canned or thawed sour cherries, drained, with 2 cups juice reserved
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp coarse sugar

• For the biscuit topping: Whisk dry ingredients together. Pour cooled butter into the buttermilk; it will make tiny clumps. Stir wet into dry just until a dough forms. Set aside.
• For the cherry filling: Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a 12" ovenproof skillet. Whisk in the reserved cherry juice and cook over medium-high heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture simmers and is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the cherries and almond extract.
• Using a spoon, scoop and drop 1" pieces of the dough, spaced about 1/2" apart, over the cherry filling in the skillet, then sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake the cobbler until the biscuits are golden brown and the filling is thick and glossy, 25-30 minutes.
• Using a potholder (The skillet handle will be hot!), remove the skillet from the oven. Let the cobbler cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.