French Onion Soup and the Big Chill

It has been unbelievably cold in Southern California. Coming in at 15-20 degrees below normal temperatures for January, this cold snap has broken all previous records and has us all shivering and complaining. It's been colder here in sunny California than in Boston, Chicago, or Portland, Maine for crying out loud! Wind machines in the nearby orchards have run all night for a week now, trying to keep the frost from settling on the citrus. Inside my house, the furnace has never put in so many hours, chugging along day and night. I don't want to leave the house any more than I absolutely must because it's just too cold out there. All I want to do is snuggle up in layers of fleece and read a good book. And consume bowls of hot soup.

Just in time to keep me from freezing to death, the talented folks at America's Test Kitchen recently published a recipe that caught my interest: French onion soup. Just the ticket for living with The Big Chill. Not only is onion soup nourishing for body and soul, it takes a long time to make which fills the house with the aroma of onions slowly browning in butter then slowly simmering in stock.

When I've made soupe a l'oignon in the past, I always found the first step -- browning and stirring onions on the stove top for an hour or two -- to be really tedious. The test kitchen folks suggest it is also unnecessary. Yes, you still have to plan on a long afternoon in the kitchen, but this recipe lets the oven do much of the tedious work, so you're freed up for an hour at a time to do other things, a welcome solution to a multi-tasker like me.

French Onion Soup

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
6 Large yellow onions (about 4 pounds). Vidalia and Maui onions are too sweet.
2 Cups water, plus extra for deglazing
1/2 Cup dry sherry
4 Cups chicken broth
2 Cups beef broth
4 Sprigs fresh thyme
1 Bay leaf
1 Small baguette cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 Ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 2-1/2 cups)

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 400 degrees. You'll need a large Dutch oven, big enough to hold 2 quarts of liquid plus all the onions.

While the oven is heating up, peel the onions and cut each lengthwise, then place each half cut side down and slice from pole to pole into slices about 1/4 inch wide.

Tuck the herbs into a muslin bouquet garni bag, or tie them together into a tidy little bundle.

Spray the pot generously with non-stick spray, then add the butter. Add the sliced onions and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover and cook for an hour in the oven. Remove from oven and stir. The onions will be softened and slightly reduced in volume.

Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and cook another hour. Again, remove the pot and stir the onions which by now will be browned and very soft.

Return the pot to the oven for another 45 minutes, then remove the pot and stir, scraping down the sides and the crusty bits on the bottom. By now, the onions have spent almost 3 hours in a hot oven.

Now place the pot on medium-high heat and continue to cook the onions, stirring frequently to incorporate all the browned, crusty bits, until all the liquid evaporates. Reduce the heat if the onions start to scorch. De-glaze the pot with a small amount of water, and stir until another crust forms on the bottom of the pot. Repeat this deglazing process another 2-3 times until the onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates.

Stir in the two broths, 2 cups of water, the herbs and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping any browned bits off the sides and bottom of the pot. Increase the heat to high and when the soup starts to simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard the herbs then season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the soup is simmering, arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet and bake in the 400-degree oven until the bread is crisp and turning golden at the edges. If you're serving the soup immediately, sprinkle the baguette slices with the cheese and brown under the broiler, then place 1-2 slices atop each bowl of soup. If you are using broiler-proof soup bowls, you can do this in one step, placing the baguettes and cheese on top of each filled soup bowl, then placing the soup bowls under the broiler. Serves 6.

The soup has a delicious, deep flavor as soon as it's cooked, but it's even better the next day. Serve with a hearty salad of greens, nuts and dried fruit and a robust red wine. Comfort food for winter.

Comfort Food, Part Deux: Chicken & Dumplings

The girls were planning another midweek get-together, something we'd all looked forward to before our pal Katrina returns to England. Since the weather forecast was for wind and some late season rain and I was in the mood -- again -- for comfort food, I volunteered to bring the main course: savory chicken and dumplings. I had made this dish a few times before, but had always served it straight from the stove, right after the dumplings were done. I wasn't sure how to the timing would work after pre-cooking it at home, cooling the pot before lugging it to a friend's house, then waiting for cocktails to be consumed before re-heating and serving to the ladies. I found out.

 After the chicken is browned, add the vegetables and herbs.

This is a very fragrant dish to cook. My kitchen was redolent with rosemary and thyme, freshly plucked from the garden. It started out beautifully: nicely browned chicken and colorful vegetables, but by the time it was served (almost 4 hours later), it had become a colorless blob. A couple of the ladies volunteered that they had never eaten chicken and dumplings before ("It's a Southern dish, isn't it?") and I hope they will not judge the dish by the way it was looked last night.

Here's the process. I've divided the ingredients into groups, according to each step.

Chicken & Dumplings

6-8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika

1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped or 1+ cups packaged baby carrots
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, chop fine
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme, minced
3 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced

1 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock

Heat the oil until very hot, but not smoking, in a large stockpot -- wide, not deep. Toss the chicken pieces together in a plastic bag with the flour, salt and pepper, and paprika until the chicken is well coated. Place the thighs in the hot oil and brown on both sides. If the pot won't hold all the chicken pieces at one time, brown them in batches, setting aside the finished pieces while you add new pieces. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and herbs and cook for about 10-12 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the wine and stock and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour until the chicken is tender.

Meanwhile, make the dumplings.

1/4 cup shortening (like Crisco)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (keeps the dumplings from getting too doughy)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
3/4 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients together with the parsley in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk. Mix lightly until the milk is incorporated. No need to handle the dough and roll into little balls. Just use a teaspoon, and drop 1-inch globs of dough on top of the simmering chicken. Cover and cook 10 minutes until the dumplings have expanded and become fluffy. Do not stir and do not lift the lid: the dumplings need the steam to cook properly.

This served the five of us, with plenty of leftovers.

 Dumplings steaming in the pot with the cooked chicken.

While some cooks like to pull apart the cooked chicken into lots of smaller bite-sized pieces, I like to keep the chicken thighs whole. That way, the rich brown coating adds to the visual appeal. I also think that one dumpling per serving is sufficient and looks better than a bowlful of dumplings hiding the chicken and veggies underneath.

In the end, my lovely chicken and dumplings were woefully overcooked by the time we tucked into dinner. I'd be the last one to end any cocktail hour prematurely, but if we'd eaten an hour earlier, I think this time-honored Southern staple would've been better received.

P.S. The wine, asparagus, salad and dessert were great!

Comfort Food: Meatloaf Done Right

In Ojai, the churches take turns hosting the Family Shelter, providing a good meal and overnight shelter to those without adequate housing. Nightly hot meals, showers and a clean sleeping space, followed by breakfast the next morning, are provided by volunteers from December through March, and this week my church recruited its members to do some cooking. The menu was already set: meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, rolls and butter, and chocolate cake. It had also already been decreed that everything but the meatloaf would be purchased in bulk from Costco, including instant mashed potatoes and gravy that needed only water added to bring it to life.

Since it's pretty much against my religion to eat canned green beans, or powdered mashed potatoes and gravy, I volunteered to make a meatloaf. I think meat loaf is a wonderful comfort food, bringing back memories of simple suppers around the family table, the house redolent with the smell of it baking in the oven.

But I also have grim memories of my mother lifting that same meatloaf out of the oven in a loaf pan, swimming in a pool of its own juices and fat. Depending on the grade of ground beef used, she could easily drain off close to a cup of greasy stuff, leaving the meatloaf tough and dry.

I knew there must be a better way, and I found it on Cook's Illustrated. In their test kitchen, they found that by baking the meatloaf on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet, all the juices flow away from the loaf, leaving it moist and grease-free.

I've tried this recipe a couple of times, and while it takes quite a bit longer to assemble than the way I was taught, the results are worth it.

Glazed Meatloaf

3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated on small holes of a box grater, or in a grattoir
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1 celery rib, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika)
1/4 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (Knox)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2/3 cup crushed saltines
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds lean ground beef (85% lean)

Heat oven to 375. Place oven rack in the middle position. Spread grated cheese on a plate and place in the freezer until ready to use. Prepared baking sheet by cutting heavy duty foil into a 10" x 6" rectangle, and with a metal skewer, poke holes in the foil about 1/2 inch apart. Place pierced foil on a cooling rack fitted into a rimmed baking sheet and spray with non-cooking spray.

Here is the meatloaf hot out of the oven. It was cooked on top of a rectangle of foil 

(pierced with multiple holes for draining and sprayed with Pam) 

which has been positioned on a cooling rack which in turn is placed in a rimmed baking sheet.

Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until foaming. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally until beginning to brown, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, thyme and paprika and cook, stirring until fragrant, about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add the tomato juice. Cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the pan, until thickened, about 1 minute. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the broth and eggs in a large bowl until combined. Sprinkle gelatin over liquid and let stand about 5 minutes. Stir in soy sauce, mustard, saltines, parsley, salt, pepper and the onion mixture. Crumble the frozen cheese into coarse powder (no lumps!) and sprinkle over the mixture. Add the ground beef and mix gently with your hands (I wear clean rubber gloves) until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Transfer meat to the foil rectangle and shape into a 10 x 6 oval about 2 inches high. Smooth top and sides with a moistened rubber spatula. Bake at 375 for 55-65 minutes. Remove from oven and turn on the broiler.

While the meatloaf is cooking, make the glaze:

1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

Combine all five ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Spread half of the glaze evenly over the cooked meatloaf, using a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. Place the meatloaf under the broiler until the glaze bubbles and begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove meatloaf from the oven and spread evenly with the remaining glaze. Place back under the broiler and cook until glaze is again bubbly and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes more. Let meatloaf cool about 20 minutes before slicing.

When Asparagus Becomes Comfort Food

In California we can eat locally grown asparagus for almost 9 months of the year. The heaviest production here in the Central Coast is from February to June, so right now the local markets are full of the stuff. Every time I pop into my neighborhood victualer for even just a quart of milk, I grab a bunch of asparagus -- just because. It's spring after all, and it's good and right that we should eat as much asparagus as we can.

I was going to fire up the barbie and grill some spears, but the weather had turned gloomy and damp and suddenly I was yearning for some hearty comfort food, not roasted asparagus. A good old pantry standby, Arborio rice, let me have my asparagus and my comfort food at the same time.

Risotto with Asparagus and Walnuts

1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Or, half EVOO and half lemon olive oil.
1 Small onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 Cups Arborio rice
1/2 Cup dry white wine
4 Cups vegetable stock, heated
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts
1/2 Pound asparagus cut into 1-inch lengths. Save a few longer pieces for garnish.
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper
Walnut oil to finish (optional)
Lemon zest for garnish

Heat butter and olive oil in a large saucepan. Saute the onion, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the rice and stir over medium heat for about a minute without browning the rice. Add the wine and boil rapidly while stirring, until almost evaporated. Stir in the hot stock, one ladleful at a time, letting each ladleful get absorbed into the rice before adding more. After 10 minutes add the asparagus and keep cooking, adding stock as needed. After another 5 minutes, test a grain of rice; it should be al dente. Stir in the walnuts and lemon zest and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and drizzle a little walnut oil over the dish, stirring lightly to blend. Serve immediately, garnished with lemon zest.

Makes 4 side dishes, or 2 generous entree portions. The vegetarians in your family will love you.