The Best French Onion Soup

With the recent dip in temperatures from mid-90's to 40 degree nights, this has been on my mind big time! It is so simple, and amazingly delicious! Cooking the onions slowly over a low heat is a huge struggle for both my husband and I, since we tend to be more, high-heat, quick sear-type people, but this payoff is well worth the wait.

French Onion Soup
(makes 2 servings)

1 pound sweet yellow onions, thinly cut into 1/2 moons
3-5 springs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon AP flour
1/2 white wine
2 cups low sodium beef stock
1 cup water
2 1 1/2 inch thick slices of ciabatta bread
(your favorite crusty bread would work perfect)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Add the olive oil and butter to a large pot and place over low heat. Add onions, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cook (stirring occasionally) until the onions are deep brown and amazingly soft. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, and increase heat, letting the wine bubble for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock and water, and let the soup simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, heat the broiler and place a rack in the middle of the oven. Place the bread slices in the middle of the rack and broil, flipping once, until browned on both sides. Remove bay leaf from the soup and ladle into two (broiler safe!) bowls. Top each bowl with a toast and cover generously with cheese. Broil the soup 2-3 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve immediately!

Tuna Carpaccio

For those of you who are squeamish about raw fish, you should probably skip this post. Recently my husband found this recipe while killing time on epicurious.com (which takes up far too much of our time), and recreated it with his own take. The result was an amazingly simple carpaccio with just the right balance of salty and tangy.

alic;">Tuna Carpaccio
(adapted from epicurious.com)

4 oz. fresh sushi-grade tuna small bunch watercress
2 oz. fresh parmesean cheese for grating
1 small bunch chives (or scallions)
4 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar (use the good stuff...a little goes a long way)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


Cut the tuna into about 1-inch squares. Place each square between two pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap, and flatten with a meat mallet or small fying pan until very thin. Arrange the pieces on a plate, slightly overlapping. Drizzle with half of the oil and vinegar and sprinkle evenly with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

In a small bowl, combine watercress (arugula would work well too) with remaining oil and vinegar. Toss to combine. Place the watercress salad on top of the tuna in the middle of the plate. Top with shaved parmesean cheese and finish with the diced chives.

Serve alone or with little toasts, crackers - just about anything!

Nisu (Finnish coffee bread)

My husband is Finnish and very proud of this fact. His grandfather was a first generation Finnish American who grew up in Gloucester, MA, a town with a large Finnish population. Back as far as when we were dating, he has talked about the wonder that is nisu, a traditional Finnish coffee bread. He soon insited that I learn how to make it and even gave me his mother's recipe as a not-so-subtle prod. There is still a Finnish bakery in Gloucester where his grandparents used to buy their nisu on the weekends and apparently this is the standard to which I was warned that my attempts would be scrutinized (no pressure!).

I have been trying occasionally for the past several years to make an acceptable nisu and for this most recent attempt, I was determined to combine all of the things that I had done wrong in the past and create the famous "bakery nisu" of my husband's childhood. Judging by his reaction, I'm apparently getting there, as this has been by far my best attempt ever. This bread is a labor of love, and is more involved than any other bread I make, but hey, it got a pretty great reaction from my husband, so I think it's well worth it!

Nisu

3 3/4 cups bread flour

1 egg

4 tbls butter (softened)

2 1/2 tbls sugar + more for sprinkling

2 tsp cardamom + more for sprinkling

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

Glaze:

1 tbls milk

1 egg

Combine 1 tablespoon of sugar with the yeast, and add warm water. Stir to dissolve and let the yeast and sugar bloom together for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine all of the other bread ingredients (except 1 tbls butter) in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment and mix to combine. Slowly add the proofed yeast mixture and stir until combined, adding warm water and/or sprinkles of flour until the dough comes together and has a smooth consistency. Separate into three even portions and roll into ropes. Rub each rope with remaining tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with a little more sugar and cardamom. Braid the ropes as tightly as possible and place the bread onto a baking sheet. Cover lightly with plastic and leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes, or until almost golden. Remove from oven and brush with the beaten egg and milk mixture. Sprinkle with even more sugar and cardamom (my husband likes it sweet!). Put back in the oven and bake another 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The result is a dense, almost cake-like sugar-glazed bread that goes exceptionally well with coffee. Enjoy plain or toasted with...even more butter and sugar!

Treviso Marmalade and Goat Cheese Crostini

This was another recipe from Wine Bar Food, which we've been cooking from every weekend since we got it, and it is so good, not to mention affordable...radiccio and a small package of (naturally lower fat) goat cheese. I used homemade green olive and basil bread that we had in the freezer, but the recipe calls for a plain french bread. Treviso is a variety of radiccio that is used all over Northern Italy, and is abundant at the Rialto Markets in Venice (where we fell in love with it). It's been impossible to find here, but that could be because we live in the sticks of NH. At any rate, the regular round heads of radiccio that are available in our grocery store taste similar enough with a bitter bite and gorgeous purple color.

When we were making this, the smell of the balsamic vinegar for the first few minutes after adding it to the wilted radiccio was almost enough to make me sick, and definitely had me nervous about this snack, but it mellowed out and the final product was delicously sweet with just enough bitterness left.


Treviso Marmalade & Goat Cheese Crostini
Adapted from Wine Bar Food

2 heads of treviso (or round radiccio)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
16 slices of bagette
6 ounzes goat cheese (softened to room temperature)
Fresh basil (optional)

If using the round radiccio, cut each head in quarters and remove the tough stem. Coarsly chop the leaves. Heat olive oil in medium pan over medium heat. Add the radiccio and cook until wilted, stirring frequently (about 5-6 minutes). Stir in the vinegar and sugar, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until all of the vinegar is evaporated and the mixture has reduced to a jammy consistency, cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile slice the bagette and broil 1-2 minutes on each side until brown. Divide the goat cheese evenly between the slices and spread to cover the toast. Top each crostini with a equal amount of the marmalade and serve, topped with fresh basil if you have it.

Chicken Asparagus Rollatini with Red Currant Glaze

This is an inexpensive healthy dinner with a nice presentation and fast prep. time. It might make your grill a sticky mess, but the flavor is worth it!


Ingredients (serves 4):

4 well-trimmed chicken breasts

1 bunch asparagus (the thinner the better)

1/2 cup red currants (sometimes sold as "Zante" currants)

6-8 oz. red currant preserve

salt

pepper

olive oil

Preparation:

Pound chicken breasts to 1/2 - 1/4" thick (thickness will effect cooking time and "rollability"),

Brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and set aside,

Trim asparagus and steam approx. 2 minutes then immediately cool down in a cold water bath (this helps to keep them from being overcooked),

Place a small handful of currants and approx. 6-8 pieces of asparagus on chicken and roll tightly,

Secure with kitchen twine or toothpicks,

Brush entire roll with red currant preserve,

Preheat grill to med.-high and cook approx. 5 minutes, flip, brush with preserve and grill for another 5 minutes (or until done),

Plate, remove twine or toothpicks and top with additional red currant preserve

Rosemary Parmesean Biscotti

This is another recipe from our new favorite Wine Bar Food book that looked too good not to try. Being a "fat nazi", I made one big substitution, using non-fat greek yogurt in place of the entire stick and a half of butter the recipe calls for - and it came out delicious, not too dry and with a slight tang from the yogurt.

Rosemary Parmesean Biscotti

Makes about 2 dozen

1 cup all purpose flour + more for dusting

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (I used 3/4 cup non-fat greek yogurt instead)

2 tablespoons sugar

3 eggs (I used 3/4 cups egg substitute)

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesean cheese

1 cup almonds (I used pine nuts)

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon of olive oil (if you're not using the butter)

Using the stand blender, mix yogurt (or butter) with sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one a time until incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until you have a soft dough. Form into a log and freeze for 10-15 minutes or until set. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cut biscotti into desired size and bake for another 10 minutes. Flip the biscotti and bake for a final 10-15 minutes (adding more freshly grated parmesean if desired). Remove from oven and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand - and enjoy! Traditionally these are served with prosecco, but they are delicious alone too.

Negroni Cocktail

Originating in Florence in the early 1900's, this Italian classic has become one of our favorites. Strong and bitter, the Negroni is typically served as an aperitif.

Mix equal parts:

Gin
Sweet (Red) Vermouth
Campari

Shake well and strain over ice in a rocks or old fashioned glass.

The standard garnish is a slice of orange peel, but we have found that an orange wedge or lemon peel (pictured here) are just as well.

Variations include replacing the gin with prosecco (Milan's "Negroni Sbagliato"), vodka ("Negroski"), or just topping off the regular recipe with prosecco ("Sparkling Negroni").