French Onion Soup

Since I'm tired of looking at my last entry, the potato casserole, I will be posting a new recipe! 

I made this French Onion Soup a few weeks ago, and it's now one of my favorites.  The recipe is partially from The Pioneer Woman web page, partially from other recipes I've tried and a bit of my own creation.

First you gather all of your ingredients...unless you're like me and just wing it, but for for the sake of illustrations I gathered for you.

( Recipe will be at the bottom of the page)

Start slicing those onions...sniffle, sniffle...

The recipe I tried to follow called for a stick of butter - TOO MUCH BUTTER!

Next time I will use 1/2 stick, and  I love butter!

After browning on top the stove it goes in the oven....but keep the lid ajar.

After required time, add broth(s).

Here comes the toasted bread, but look out.....

Can you say CHEEESE?

RECIPE

& ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter

5 large yellow onions - sliced thin (add more or less to suit your taste)

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups beef broth

1 cup Dry White Wine (optional - I did not use wine).

2 cloves minced garlic (I didn't have any so I used garlic powder- it worked)

Montreal Steak seasonings (I used a couple of shakes..sorry I didn't measure).

Worcestershire Sauce (splash or two)

toasted french bread

5 ounces (or more) of Gruyere Cheese (grated)

Melt butter in heavy soup pot or dutch oven, add onions and cook, covered for about 20 minutes.

Place pot in a preheated 400 degree oven with lid ajar so the onions will brown.  Cook for at least an hour, stirring once or twice so the onions don't burn.

Remove from oven, place back on stove top over medium heat.  Stir, scraping off all the luscious brown bits. 

Turn off heat and add wine, turn heat back on and cook for 5 minutes. (I skipped the wine part).

Add both broths, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and Montreal steak seasoning.

Cook on low for approx. 40 minutes.

Butter one side of bread slices and broil over low heat till brown and crispy.

When soup is ready, ladle soup into ramekin, place crispy bread on top and sprinkle with cheese.

Broil till melted and bubbly.

Gruyere Cheese is rather costly, you can also use Provolone or Mozzarella...both work very well.

YUM.

Note-I find this to be a very forgiving recipe..you may add or subtract as your taste buds move you. 

It seems like a lot of work, but actually after making it once, you never need a recipe again..it's very easy.  I hope that if you try it, you enjoy it!

Potato-goat cheese gratin

I've been trying out some recipes I've clipped from magazines, not all are winners!  I made this tonight and thought it was very good.  I've never cooked with leeks before, but was pleasantly surprised.  They had a wonderful flavor.
Most traditional potato gratin dishes mean a lot of butter and heavy cream, but this has neither.  The Yukon gold potatoes added so much flavor and the standard cream is replaced with fat free milk.
Don't be intimated by the amount of ingredients...it's really a simple dish to make!

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
3 large leeks (white part only), trimmed, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced (1 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 Tbs.  flour
1/2 tsp.  salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/4 lb. (4 - 5 med)  Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices (I did not peel mine).
4 oz goat cheese
1/4  up Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
parsley to garnish (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray casserole dish with non stick spray.  Heat olive oil and cook leeks on medium heat till lightly brown.
2.  In a small bowl whisk 2 Tablespoons of milk into flour.  Whisk in remaining milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic.
3.  Arrange half of potato slices in dish.  Sprinkle leeks and goat cheese on top of potatoes, pour half of milk mixture over potatoes, leeks and cheese.  Layer remaining potatoes; pour remaining milk mixture over all.
4.  Bake covered 45 minutes.  Uncover; bake about 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender
5.  For topping combine bred crumbs and Parmesan, sprinkle on potatoes.  Bake uncovered about 15 minutes more till topping is browned.  Top with parsley.
Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional Info:
209 calories
6 g total fat (3 g sat. fat)
9 mg chol
278 mg sodium
32 g carbs
2 g fiber
8 g protien

Note:  I would suggest using only Panko bread crumbs.  I was out and used regular which were kind of heavy.  It was still good, but I think the Panko would be much better.

I would also say you could increase the amount of leeks if you like.  The flavor is very mild.