French Onion Soup

Since this recipe calls for 3 pounds of onions, plus a little more at the end, I like to use the giant sweet onions that show up at farmer’s markets in the early Fall. About three of those big ones weigh in at three pounds.

Slicing all those onions can cause a lot of grief, but I have learned a trick that seems to help in avoiding tears. Someone once told me that if the cutting board is first wiped down with vinegar, all will be well. When I asked the person whom I thought gave me this tip, he looked blank, but it seems to help, so I continue to use a little white vinegar rubbed over the cutting surface before I launch into the onions.

It is a little harder to have homemade beef stock on hand than chicken stock. Any time a chicken has been cooked, the remains can be thrown in a pot with some vegetables to cook up broth, but steak and chop meat don’t give a cook anything to work with. The true French way is to roast bones and vegetables for hours, then deglaze, add further ingredients, and cook down. Another possibility is to put marrowbones in a soup pot, along with onion, carrots, celery, parsley, cook and skim.

The simplest way is to use a prepared stock. As always, this requires some careful reading of labels to check out salt and sugar content. A recent survey of a supermarket assortment showed that salt could range from 17 to 40 % of daily requirements.

Traditionally, French Onion Soup comes with toasted bread and shredded Gruyere cheese on top (which requires putting the already heated soup, with its decorations, under the broiler). But there are other possibilities. For instance, sautéing an onion lightly and adding that at the end, plus a little grated parmesan, will give the soup some extra body and flavor without having to worry about getting individual bowls of boiling soup in and out of the oven.

Ingredients

6 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 lbs. yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tsp sugar

Salt (depending on broth)

1 Tbsp flour

8 cups beef stock

2 cups dry white wine

Pepper

Baguette

1lb. Gruyere, shredded

Directions

1. Melt 3 Tbsp butter over medium-low heat, add oil and onions and cook covered 30 minutes.
2. Increase heat to medium-high, add sugar and cook uncovered until golden brown.
3. Sprinkle flour, and cook for 3 minutes uncovered.
4. Add 2 cups of stock and stir to blend.
5. Add remaining stock and wine. Adjust salt and pepper and simmer 20 minutes.

For Serving with Gruyere

1. Put oven on broil (low)
2. Slice and butter bread
3. Toast in oven until just golden brown on both sides
4. Add toast and soup to (ovenproof) bowls
5. Spread shredded Gruyere on top
6. Put bowls on a baking sheet and broil until cheese bubbles and begins to brown.

Salmon Chowder

The big sweet onions that arrive in the fall have been appearing at the farmers’ markets, so I was tempted to write up French Onion Soup. Last year I didn’t stock up before the onions sold out. But as I associate French Onion soup with lunch on cool fall days, with Tarte Tatin for dessert, my suggestion is to stock up on the onions  -they keep well in a cool, dry place- and the recipe will follow anon.

This week’s recipe is for a fish chowder. It originated in Finland, which is easy to tell by the ingredients. Decades ago, when we first visited Norway, there were only local products available and fish and potatoes could appear at every meal.  This is an American adaptation, with such time saving products as bottled clam juice. The recipe calls for roasted salmon, but the difficulty these days of finding fish that is neither farm raised nor previously frozen means that other options might be called for.

One possibility is to use canned salmon. I have made the soup this way and it came out well. It was not quite the same in terms of consistency, but it was tasty and enjoyable. There are other fishes that look like salmon, such as steelhead trout, but I do not know if that would give the same result in terms of flavor.

This soup does not take very long to cook and does not get pureed, so it is a relatively short procedure. Because it calls for low fat milk and fish, it makes a substantial and healthy meal.

Ingredients

1 tsp butter

3 cups chopped onion

¼ cup flour

1 8 oz bottle clam juice

4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes

1 ½ cups thinly sliced carrots

3 ½ cups low fat milk

10 oz cooked (roasted) salmon

2 Tbsp chopped fresh or 2 tsp dried dill

¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Melt butter in soup pot. Add onions and cook 5 minutes
2. Stir in flour. Cook 1 minute
3. Gradually add clam juice and bring to a boil. Cook stirring until thick
4. Add potatoes and carrots, stir in milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes
5. Break salmon into chunks and add with dill and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Bourbon Glaze

“What’s going on?” you are saying, “This is a soupsite and if I want cakes, I have other places to go.” 

You are right, but here is the problem. We may not live in the pot luck capital of the country, but there are at least half a dozen occasions a year when local organizations, town groups, friends, or holiday gatherings require that I supply what used to be called “a covered dish.” This was a quaint way of saying that each person is expected to supply a prepared dish to serve a group of people.

Soup just doesn’t work. First, it requires the host to supply a specialized set of tools: bowls and soupspoons. Second, it doesn’t fit into the three-part movement of a pot luck gathering: pre-meal snacks, main dishes, desserts.

So I have had to rely on a (seasonal) list of offerings, and this being the end of summer, here is one for the Labor Day Weekend. It is a cake made with one of those large zucchinis people are trying to unload from their late summer gardens.

It should be made a day ahead, not only for convenience, but because the Bourbon Glaze is actually like a marinade. It soaks into holes and is absorbed by the cake. The cake can be baked in several different kinds of pans, but first choice in terms of presentation would be a Bundt pan. One long loaf or two regular ones would also work, especially if you want to freeze one.

I had said that new recipes would appear on Sundays, but a family emergency having intervened last week, this is going up now.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups sugar

¾ cups vegetable oil

1 cup plain yogurt

4 large eggs

2 cups shredded zucchini

1Tbsp grated orange zest

Glaze

½ cup orange juice

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup bourbon

Directions

1. preheat oven to 350
2. in a bowl, whisk together first five dry ingredients
3. With electric mixer, blend next four moist ingredients
4. Beat in eggs one at a time
5. Add dry ingredient mix and beat until combined
6. Stir in zucchini and zest and pour into greased pan
7. Bake 40-45 minutes or until tester comes out clean
8. Cool 5 minutes. Pierce cake and pour glaze over it. Chill overnight.

Summer Corn Chowder

Many corn soup recipes are chowders, and chowders generally include potatoes. Since potatoes and corn are more starch than I think is wanted in one recipe, I have collected some favorites that do not call for potatoes.

For some reason, most of these recipes are on the rich side, calling for cream or coconut milk, and cheese. One favorite is Indian and I usually make it in the winter with frozen corn.

Some vegetables, like asparagus, for instance, taste like two different foods from the canned to the fresh. But corn seems to be about the same whether it is home frozen at summer’s end, supermarket frozen, or even good quality canned. This means that though corn is associated with August, corn soups can be made year round.

This particular recipe seems summery because it is on the lighter side, and the yellow/red/green color combination looks refreshing. Cherry tomatoes cut in half can be used instead of the red pepper, but the pepper holds up better in later reheating.

 Instead of relying on potatoes to thicken the soup, the trick is to take half the soup and liquid, after the corn is cooked but before all the ingredients are added, and puree it. This gives the soup a solid consistency without using thickeners such as potatoes, cornstarch, or flour.

A recent houseguest brought us a chicken dinner with all the fixing for Friday night supper. After we had chicken and vegetables the first night, we made an Asian chicken salad the second night, and tacos the third night. Finally, all the collected bones were cooked up into a base for soup. That’s what went into the corn soup. However, when using homemade stock, it is necessary to adjust the seasoning for salt as even the best store-bought stock has a lot of salt.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 leek, cleaned and chopped

5 cups loosely packed corn

4 cups chicken broth

1 sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

3 Tbsp. Chopped chives

Directions

1. Heat vegetable oil in soup pot
2. Add onion and leek and cook covered until soft
3. Add corn and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
4. Add 2 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook covered for 20 minutes
5. Remove from heat. Cool partially and put half the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth.
6. Return mixture to soup pot and add remaining ingredients

If you are very organized when serving meals, you can add the chopped chives to the actual serving bowls so they will be crisp and bright green. I find if I leave the garnishing of dishes to the last minute, it may not get done, so I add the chives to the pot.

Yellow Tomato Soup with Cilantro Relish

Yellow tomatoes used to be an exotic fringe item at the end of the summer, but with the focus on local organic farm products, by the end of July yellow tomatoes are right up there with the red ones. They show up about the same time and share the space on farm stand counters.

On the other hand, while it is possible to pick up baskets of red seconds for making sauce and soup, yellow rarely shows up that way, so making yellow tomato soup is still something special. Both the color and the flavor make this soup unusual.

Unlike last weeks no-cooking gazpacho, this soup starts out by getting its flavor from cooking the seasoning, and then adding the other ingredients. Once everything is cooked, the soup goes into the blender, and then to the refrigerator. The cilantro-red tomato relish can be made any time.

Ingredients

For the Soup

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 ½ tsp minced garlic

6 large yellow tomatoes cut into cubes

2 cups water

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 Tbsp lemon juice

For the Relish

1 medium red tomato, seeded and diced\

½ cup finely chopped red onion

¼ cup chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp minced jalapeno, or to taste

Soup Directions

1. Briefly toast the coriander and cumin seeds in the soup pot until they become fragrant and lightly brown. Be careful not to burn seeds.
2. Add olive oil and cook chopped onion and garlic until translucent. Do not brown; add a tablespoon of water if necessary.
3. Add tomatoes and cook five minutes.
4. Add remaining soup ingredients and cook 30 minutes.
5. Puree in blender or food processor.
6. Chill soup until serving.

Relish Directions

In a small bowl, combine all the relish ingredients. Adjust salt and pepper in soup and serve garnished with relish.

Everyday Gazpacho

Local tomatoes are making their appearance at the farmers’ markets. Ordinarily this would not be remarkable, but last year in the Northwest corner of Connecticut a blight wiped out the tomato crop and there was much fear that the culprit might lurk in the soil. But local farm stands are full of juicy red and yellow tomatoes, which means it is time for Gazpacho.

 My files include recipes for all kinds of special gazpachos: seafood, green, Mexican, or almost any other denomination. But my old standby is a recipe that always seems to please.  I call it “Everyday Gazpacho” because it does not require cooking, it uses ordinary seasonal ingredients, it takes only a few minutes to make, and it makes a quantity. Next time I will post a more exotic cooked tomato soup: Yellow Tomato Soup with Cilantro Relish.

Recently I tried a cold cucumber soup that seemed like a simple recipe: the few ingredients were combined in the blender, and then put through a strainer. The result was refreshing, but I would not recommend the recipe. Most recipes that ask you to put the results from your blender through a strainer have a problem. The strainer takes out so much pulp that the remaining liquid is just not worth the effort. We were left with two smallish cups of cold soup, which was just as well as it wasn’t a big hit with Mr. What’s For Lunch.

Gazpacho Ingredients

2 cups chopped tomatoes*

1 cup chopped red onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped peeled and seeded cucumber

1 ½ tsp chopped garlic

1 ½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 cups V-8 juice

Directions

1. Using a food processor, chop each of the first four ingredients separately by turning the machine on and off so that each one becomes small pieces but retains some consistency (this is a very brief process). Use a non-reactive bowl and add each vegetable as it is finished.
2. Add remaining 6 ingredients
3. Stir, cover, and refrigerate

*In an ideal kitchen, the tomatoes would be peeled. This can be done by cutting an X in the bottom of each tomato and submerging it in boiling water for 10 seconds to loosen skin. Chill under cold water and skin should come off. This is not an operation I generally do.

Szechwan Carrot Soup

Szechwan Carrot Soup

Everyone probably has a recipe for some kind of carrot soup. I have several, but this one has that subtle, mysteriously rich flavor that comes from the blending of several unexpected ingredients.

The recipe comes from friends of ours who renovated the family farmhouse and took the sunniest corner of the new kitchen, near the wood-burning stove, as an eating area. They like to invite guests for brunch or lunch in this sunny corner, rather than dinner in their dark, cool dining room. Their menus feature comfort food, like French toast marinated overnight or rich tasting soup.

Since they have lived in several different places, they have accumulated an eclectic store of recipes that they have shared with us. Their carrot soup has become one of our regulars, but it is not for anyone allergic to peanuts. On the other hand, it has plenty of nutritious ingredients.

In Search of Chicken Broth

So many recipes call for chicken broth that it is worthwhile exploring the options wherever you are. Since one of our sons became a farmer, we sometimes get large bags of chicken feet and necks. Cooking those up in a couple of big pots, along with tops from a bunch of celery, a couple of onions and carrots, produces a lot of broth. Since these parts come from pasture- raised chickens, there is no fat. Some of the broth I freeze in 4 cup containers, but I also puree the vegetables and keep a couple of containers of slightly thicker base.

When chicken parts are not on the horizon, I start reading the labels in the grocery story, or even a health food store. The labels are discouraging. Sugar and salt figure way too much in many brands, even ones that claim the high ground of being ‘gourmet,’ but at least a careful study can lead to the best of the bunch. If you find a brand that passes muster, stock up!

(Like all soups destined for the blender, there is no need to chop anything fine.)

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 lb. carrots, cut up

¾ inch gingerroot, sliced

1/8 tsp. dried hot pepper flakes

3 cups chicken broth

1 ½ Tbsp soy sauce

1 ½ Tbsp creamy peanut butter

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 cup milk, or more as needed

1. Cook onion, celery, garlic in oil until just soft
2. Add carrots, ginger, pepper, chicken broth and cook until carrots are tender.
3. Add soy, peanut butter, sesame oil, and milk.
4. Puree. If soup is too thick, add a little extra milk. When reheating, try not to boil.

This soup is hearty, even though it has no meat. With a salad or a cheese plate, it can make a fine lunch, of if you add both salad and cheese, with a good bread, you can have an easy dinner.