Five Onion French Onion Soup ~ Best Recipe February 11, 2014

Five Onion “French Onion Soup” ~ Best Recipe!

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Devany

 

This really is easy to do, it just takes about 40 minutes prep time and a couple of hours of cooking time. I always make a large pot of it. It freezes well and keeps in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Ingredients:

• 8# of assorted onions: Red, Sweet & White, cut in half and sliced in 1/4 inch slices
• I cup of TSTE dried Shallots (or 2# of fresh shallots coarsely chopped)
• 4 leeks greens cut off, cut in half then sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons of TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix
• several grinds of TSTE Four Peppercorn Blend
• 6 stems of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon TSTE dried thyme
• 1/4 cup of olive oil 
• 1 bottle dry vermouth
• 6 quarts of stock. I used duck, but chicken, beef or even vegetable stock is fine. DO get low sodium though if you buy it.
• Splash of cognac
• For each serving: 1/2 cup of Gruyère cheese, shredded and 1 slice of toasted baguette

Method:

• In a very large stock pot pour in the olive oil and add the onions and leeks in stages allowing the onions to caramelize a little before adding more.

• After all the onions are cooked deglaze pot with a bottle of vermouth. This adds immense flavor to the soup, so don’t skip this step.
• Add seasonings, stock and the dried shallots (if you use fresh, add them with the onions).
• Bring to a boil then allow to simmer with the lid off for about 2 hours, stirring once every 15 minutes. Liquid should reduce by about half.
• Add the cognac to taste
• Turn on broiler
• Toast the baguette slices.

• Fill oven proof crocks with soup. Place on a cookie sheet for transferring to the oven. put a baguette slice in each of the crocks. Add a tiny bit more soup on top to soften. Pile with cheese and put under the broiler till the cheese starts to brown and bubble. Remove and serve.

SO easy and so delicious!!!

Quinoa and Corn Chowder from Ecuador April 21, 2013

This fabulous recipe was inspired by the book The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces. The book explores the cuisines of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba and Mexico. This is one of the best cookbooks I have picked up in a while. In this recipe, I used fresh corn, but good frozen corn would work too. I also added some seasonings and chiles to the recipe. I make my own achiote paste, but you can buy it in Hispanic or Asian markets. Quinoa is an amazing chenopod, full of protein and fiber.

Crema de Quinoa de Zuleta; Quinoa Chowder with Sweet Corn

Ingredients:

2 cups Canola Oil for frying

2 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into match sticks or cut on a spiral cutter 

Kosher Salt

2 Tbs unsalted butter

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil.

½ Spanish onion, finely chopped or TSTE dehydrated shallots reconstituted

6 cloves minced garlic or 2 Tablespoons TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix 

1 Tbs achiote paste (click here for my recipe)

1 ½ cups quinoa (any color)

Kernels cut from 3 ears of corn or 1 cup of thawed and drained frozen white sweet corn

5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbs minced fresh parsley

4 roasted poblano chiles, seeds and membranes removed, then diced

2 Tbs minced fresh chives (or leave in 1 “ strips)

Sliced Avocado for serving (optional)

Method:

• Fry the potato strips in 375 degree oil till crispy and drain, season with salt
• Heat the butter and olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat, cook the onion and garlic till translucent, about 10 minutes.
• Rinse and strain the quinoa
• Stir in the achiote paste and cook for another 5 minutes
• Stir in the quinoa and corn.  And cook, stirring often, till the quinoa is lightly toasted
• Stir in the roasted poblano chiles

Add the cream and stock and bring to a light boil. Lower the heat to a light simmer,  uncovered till the quinoa is tender and the liquid has reduced by about one quarter, about 45 minutes.

To serve, fold in the parsley, and top with fried potatoes and chives. Garnish with avocado. This also goes perfectly with the Yuca Cheese Bread and Guava Chile Butter I posted last week.