I don’t know why the French think Americans are clueless when it comes to cooking.  I mean, America has made its own incredible contributions to the world of fine food such as Spam, beef jerky, and our best export, McDonald’s McRib sandwich.

I will admit that the French do know how do soup.   This recipe for Best Onion Soup Ever gets its “Best” and “Ever” from fond.  Fond, as many of you know, is French for “that really tasty stuff that’s stuck to the bottom of your pan, you uncivilized American!” This is a Sunday kind of recipe in that it takes a few hours but you’re not really hands on for most of it.

* That lid is now serving time as a the cymbal in my daughter’s stuffed animal band.

You’ve all heard that you should only cook with wine or spirits that you would drink.   That’s why I advocate tasting the wine before you pour it into your recipe.  Sometimes I test 4 or 5 glassfuls just to be sure.

Now, you may be asking, why are we reducing this over and over and over?  Good question.  (Let’s just pretend you asked, ok?)  Every time you add more liquid and evaporate down (that’s called reduction which is something else the French perfected, you clumsy, cooking-challenged American!), you’re making more sticky brown fond stuff that equals flavor to the nth power. So be sure and scrape down the sides and bottom each time!

Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

If you want extra crispy crouton-like bread, toast your slices in the oven first.

Best Onion Soup Ever

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions sliced
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 small baguette cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 ounces shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Spray the inside of a Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and a pinch of salt. (It will help draw liquid out of the onions.) Bake in the oven, covered, for about 1 hour. Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

Remove pot and place over medium-high heat. (Careful!  The handles are still hot!)  Cook the onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary.

Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.   Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen that yummy fond and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
6. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper.

While the soup simmers, toast the sliced baguette if you like.  Set individual broiler-safe bowls on a baking sheet and fill each with soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with  a good melty cheese like Gruyère or Swiss.  Broil carefully until the cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving or you will burn yourself,  you senseless American!

What else is cookin’

• Piña Colada Doughnuts
• Simple Vinaigrette – A Visual Recipe
• Roasted Vegetable Sandwich

        

“Oh, Francie,” you say, “all these recipes for chocolate-peanut butter this and sugar cookie that!  “My belt is too tight!”  Fear not, chickens.  After all, do you think Francie eats like this all the time?  Well, ok, a lot of the time, but I do like something healthy and delicious every now and then like normal folks.

Ergo, I present my recipe for a creamy, delicious, spicy, bright soup that will warm you head to toe, fill you with lots of energy (chickpeas are a great source of protein, dontcha know!) and best of all, all this fabulousness will cost only a couple bucks to boot!

Want to see that magic?  Here ya go.

Creamy Chickpea and Rosemary Soup

1 tablespoon of olive oil
5 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaf minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 (15-19 ounce) cans chickpeas rinsed & drained
4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
sea salt to taste
fresh group pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat and add garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add chickpeas and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes; let cool slightly. Transfer soup to a blender, cover loosely (hold that lid down with a kitchen towel…safety first, chickens!) and puree until just smooth. Or use an immersion blender if you have one of those magical toys.  Return to the saucepan and stir in lemon juice and sea salt and pepper to taste. Serve, garnished with a fresh rosemary sprig, or an additional drizzling of olive oil. If you’re wowing somebody, you can add a drizzle of Crème fraîche or heavy cream and do a little drizzle swirly art thing.

See?  I told you it was easy.  Have I ever lied to you?

And here’s a bonus:  this soup is also fantastic with cannellini beans. There ya go!  Two-for-one!

        

For years I begged my husband to get a dog.  After all, I reasoned, he’d have someone to point the blame on when the room was less than fresh.  He had always pointed the finger at our small cat, but I called him out because based on the sounds I heard, if our cat had been the culprit, she would have hit the wall at a force of Mach 5. So he broke down and got the dog.  But here’s the funny thing.  The dog is worse than my husband…much, MUCH worse.  We happened to adopt the one dog from the shelter whose gastric emissions put my world-champion husband’s to shame.  Still, the dog does come in handy for hubby who happens to get gas when he eats most any vegetable of which beans are his digestive mortal enemy.  If my husband were James Bond, beans would be Dr. No. And yet, he loves this soup.  I love it too because it’s cheap, healthy and made in 15 minutes with pantry ingredients.

BEAN SOUP WITH SALSA VERDE

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 poblano pepper, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can fat-free refried beans
1 (8 oz.) jar salsa verde or 2 c. of your own green chili salsa
1 c. chicken stock
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. chili powder
Juice of 1 lime
Fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Your favorite shredded cheese

You probably already know how this goes.  In a large pot or Dutch oven, saute the onion and poblano in the oil until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, beans, salsa and chicken stock stirring gently to blend in the refried beans.  (The refried beans really thicken the soup.  You can leave them out if you prefer a broth type soup.)  Add seasonings including salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in the juice of 1 lime.  Simmer about 10 minutes until warmed through.  Serve with fresh cilantro, sour cream and shredded cheese.  Warn the kids and ask hubby to sleep in the spare room tonight.

        

Every Halloween we have a treasured family tradition that we follow exactly.

• Take kids to pumpkin patch where they lovingly spend 1.2 hours picking out the perfect pumpkin.  Pay $23.75 and bring them home.
• Husband sets up perfect pumpkin carving station complete with newspaper and specialized, intricate carving tools such as the dog food can opener and a bent steak knife.
• Kids lovingly draw faces on the pumpkins that require 1,205 intricate cuts to create.
• Husband cuts tops off pumpkins.  Kids look inside and proclaim that “pumpkin guts are gross!” and refuse to touch them.
• Husband gives them my heirloom silver soup ladle and cajoles them to stop making faces and start digging.
• After 5.7 seconds, children declare pumpkin guts to be “disgusting, cold and icky”.  Children ask to go inside to wash hands and never return.
• Husband retreats to his recliner and picks up remote while muttering something about “every #@%@# year” and “never again.”
• Search for kids unsuccessfully.
• Spend next 3 hours scooping, carving and drilling until sun sets.
• Carry two 23 pound pumpkins to the front porch.
• Dig in junk drawer looking for two stubby candles and box of matches.
• Call kids and husband outside to ooh and ahh and proclaim that these pumpkins are the best they’ve ever done.

Aahhh, memories.  Where would be without family traditions?  I also like to serve a nice warm bowl of soup before they rush to the door and anxiously wait like racehorses chomping at the bit while I take “just one more” photo.  This is one of my faves because it’s super easy and is made with pantry ingredients.

ROASTED PEPPER AND TOMATO SOUP

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 16 oz can of whole tomatoes with Italian seasoning, undrained
• 7 oz. jar of roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon dried basil or 2 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large saucepan.  Stir in flour to make a roux and cook for about 2-3 minutes stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, red peppers, broth, tomato paste, garlic, sugar and salt and pepper. Cook until soup bubbles. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a standing blender.

BAT WINGS

4 slices of bread (makes 2 sets of bat wings)
Olive oil, butter or cooking spray
Garlic salt

Tell your kids the garlic in the soup did him in.