French Onion Soup

It is still winter in Chicago and a soup is always welcome at my house. This traditional French soup is an inexpensive way to give your family a treat and warm them up after a cold winter day. This is a soup with very simple ingredients, but if you follow my advice you can have one of the best French onion soups. I have two secrets when making French onion soup. The first one is browning the beef bones in the oven before making the beef stock. By browning the bones first, you will get a dark broth with a robust flavor, perfect for the soup. The second one is to caramelize your onions with butter. You will have to be patient while caramelizing the onions, it takes time (about 1/2 hour) but it gives your soup a great sweet flavor, dark color and consistency. You can make the broth and caramelize your onions ahead of time and when its time to serve you will only have to arrange the soup in the individual bowls, top it with toasted bread and gruyere cheese and broil it.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

Serves 4

For the beef stock:
2 and 1/2 lbs. beef bones
2 carrots (chopped)
1 celery stick (chopped)
1 onion (quartered)
4 quarts of water

For the soup:
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions (sliced)
1/2 cup of dry white wine
2 teaspoons of all purpose flour
4 cups of beef stock
8 slices of toasted bread
1 cup grated gruyere cheese

Start by making the beef broth: Preheat oven to 500ºF; place beef bones in an oven-safe pan and bake for 15 minutes or until well browned.
Transfer browned beef bones to a large pot and add carrots, onion, celery and water. Bring to a boil and cook covered over medium heat for one hour.
Discard beef bones and vegetables and strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve. If you refrigerate your broth the fat will solidify at the top, you can then remove the fat and will have a fat-free broth.

Browned beef bones

Ingredients for beef stock

Continue by caramelizing the onions: In a Dutch oven melt the butter with the olive oil and add onions. Cook the onions over medium heat stirring occasionally until very soft and caramelized (about 35 minutes).

Caramelized onions

Add dry white wine to deglaze the pan and cook over medium heat until wine has been absorbed (about 1-2 minutes).

Add flour, stir and cook for another minute.  Add 4 cups of beef stock and bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Season with salt and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Prepare 4 individual bowls:

1. Fill with onions-broth mixture
2. Add 2 slices of toasted bread to each bowl
3. Top with grated gruyere cheese
4. Preheat oven to broil and cook a couple of minutes until cheese has melted and browned.

Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup

We need some warming up in Chicago after the last blizzard and subzero temperatures! This minestrone soup will do it! Plus it is a complete meal with vegetables, pasta and protein from red beans!

Did you know that you can use Parmesan rinds instead of throwing them away? I wondered for a long time what was the use of those Parmesan rinds that Whole Foods Market sells packed for $3 a box of 1/2 lb. Well, finally I found out you can make the best broth for Minestrone Soup, sauces for pasta, stews, etc... Next time, please save your Parmesan rinds in a Ziploc bag and freeze them until you have enough to make Parmesan broth! It will add so much flavor to all your dishes!

MINESTRONE SOUP

Serves 4

For the Parmesan Broth:

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 onion (quartered)
1 garlic head (cut in half)
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leave
1 bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 lb Parmesan rinds
1 cup of white wine
3 quarts of water

For the Soup:

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 leeks
3 celery ribs
3-4 carrots (if you have tricolor it will add more color to your soup)
1 bunch of green chard
1/2  cup of cooked red beans
1/2 cup of small size pasta

Start by making the Parmesan broth:  Heat a large pot and add olive oil, onion,  garlic, thyme, bay leave, parsley and black peppercorns. Sauté for 3 minutes until beginning to brown. Add white wine and cook for another minute, then add Parmesan rinds and water. Bring to a boil and cook covered at low heat for about 2 hours. Let cool and strain through a fine mesh sieve.

Continue making the soup: Chop your vegetables in small pieces. Heat a large pot and add olive oil, sauté leeks, celery, carrots and beans for a couple of minutes, then add 1 and 1/2 quarts of Parmesan broth, bring to a boil, cover and cook at low heat for 10 minutes. Add pasta and green chard and cook covered for another 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Add more Parmesan broth if you need to. Season with salt and pepper.

Eat right away before the pasta gets mushy!

Enjoy!