French Onion Soup....5 years in the making

I love French onion soup.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  It’s so delicious and comforting and it brings back some great memories of dinners with friends growing up.  But in restaurants, I almost always have to pass up this delicious favorite.  Why?  Because it’s made with beef broth.  Ugh.

These are the major parts of French onion soup.  And life in general.

But the thing is, I’ve had great vegetarian French onion soup.  I know it exists.  My friend’s mom has made (what I remember as) the most amazing, vegetarian French onion soup.  Granted, I haven’t had it since 8^th or 9^th grade, but oh, it was so good.

So it’s been a goal of mine to create the most amazing vegetarian French onion soup ever.  I’ve tried and failed in the past, and it was very sad.  Then I forced the thought from my mind and tackled other recipes rather than get frustrated by this one.  And then, completely randomly, I saw this simple recipe posted at Smitten Kitchen back in April.  There was a suggestion I had never seen before – use mushroom stock for a vegetarian version.  Well, vegetable stock hadn’t worked out well for me in the past, so I figured I might as well give mushroom stock a try.  I immediately made some adjustments and saved it.  I mean, I love soup, but I feel like it’s really just not as good when you eat it during warm weather.  My experiment would just have to wait.

Well, it snowed in DC on Saturday, so I think it’s now officially cold enough for me to start making soup regularly (I eat soup in the winter time like it’s my job).  Also, I recently found a kosher bakery where I bought a lovely baguette that was just begging to be used, and I had a bottle of dry white wine ready to go.  Clearly the stars were aligning and this weekend was my time to finally make a great, vegetarian French onion soup. 

 So I did.  And it was better than great.  It was amazing.  Mission accomplished.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

The word of the week for me is simplicity.  My week is just too busy for complicated things.  I have projects due.  I have exams to take.  I have an injury to nurse.  No, complicated is not for me this week.

You know what’s simple?  Potatoes.  Regular potatoes are a complete blank canvas.  You can pretty much make them taste like anything.

But sweet potatoes are also surprisingly simple yet versatile.  You can make them into an appetizer, side dish, entrée, or dessert, and you can give them a unique flavor profile for each dish.  I mean, they’ll always be sweet (they are sweet potatoes, after all), but you can pair that sweet with so many other things.  All you have to do is toss them with something, roast, and you’ve got a delicious dish.

And even though simplicity is my goal for the week, I decided to spice things up (literally) by pairing the sweet potatoes with chipotle.  Add a little cinnamon to the mix and you have a deliciously sweet and spicy, and oh-so-simple, side dish to any meal.

Stuffed Swiss Chard Leaves

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go the way you planned?  Not to say that things don’t turn out well, they just turn out differently, and the journey took a bunch of unexpected detours on the way?  Do those days ever turn into entire weeks?

I had a week like that recently.  It coincided with the week I decided to do quite a few experiments with cooking and baking.  I made some muffins that were a bit off.  I made a pilaf that spiraled from simple to so many ingredients that it barely fit in the container I had set aside for it.  But I think the biggest thing that went nothing like I had planned, and yet was probably the biggest success, was my stuffed Swiss chard leaves.

I happened to be watching Food Network (well, ok, so I always happen to be watching Food Network), and Giada came on with a vegetarian episode.  One recipe in particular caught my eye – her stuffed Swiss chard leaves.  And the next time I was at the farmer’s market, do you know what was staring at me while I waiting in line to buy apples?  A beautiful bunch of Swiss chard leaves.  It seemed like fate.

So I looked at the original recipe for a bit, then concocted my own version.  I didn’t want rice in mine, since I’m generally not a fan.  But I did have this bag of bulgur that I never got around to using.  And while I am a huge fan of goat cheese, I just wasn’t feeling it.  So I made up my own version and got to work.

Funny thing about reading recipes – you actually need to read them.  For example, you need to read the words “cooked” when a recipe specifies a cup of “cooked” lentils and two cups of “cooked” rice.  Well, I ignored these words and decided to go with uncooked measurements.  Which meant that I made an obscene amount of filling.  Which meant that I was eating it for days.  Which meant that afterwards I had to rework the recipe in order to make a not-so-obscene amount of filling.  Which took a lot of me scribbling on pieces of paper to divide cups of everything because apparently I can’t do math in my head.

Like I said, it was one of those weeks.  The good news is, the result was delicious.  The craisins in the stuffing give a nice tart element, and the peppers give crunch.  The lentil-bulgur combo is high in protein, and the mint and lemon juice add a fresh, bright aspect to the dish.  And of course, anything covered in sauce and cheese tastes good.  These stuffed leaves make a great appetizer.  Or, if you’re like me, you could just guzzle down 6 at a time and pretend it’s a meal.

 

Stewed Tomatoes and Green Beans

This is another dish I made while with my family in Philly (I'm a little late in posting it).  My mom told me that she had about a pound of green beans, so I should figure out a recipe for them.

My mom also has a lovely herb garden.  The mint is constantly threatening to take over.

No, this is not all of it.

I found a recipe for stewed tomatoes and string beans, and guess what!  It had mint!  I would love to credit the original recipe, but I legitimately can’t seem to find it again.  I’ll update the post when I do, promise.

Anyway, it called for a lot of oil and seeded tomatoes.  I don’t understand the point of seeding tomatoes when you’re trying to cook them down into a liquid or a mush, like when you make tomato sauce.  Don’t you want the extra tomato flavor?  Isn't the extra liquid useful?

So, I kept all the seeds and juices in with the tomatoes, and the liquid from that nicely replaced most of the oil.

I also cooked the string beans for a much shorter period of time than the original recipe called for so that they kept their crunch.  I prefer my foods to have a crunch to them.

The mint….well, I’ll admit I was skeptical about the mint at first.  The truth is, it was a wonderful addition.  It added a brightness to the dish that I wasn’t expecting.  And even though there’s a good amount of mint in there, it’s still a pretty subtle flavor.

This is a simple, easy dish with a lot of down time and little to no technique involved.  It also goes really well with the Mediterranean tempeh I recently posted.  Really well.

Mexican Quinoa Salad

Sometimes my roommate and I have a little too much fun planning things.  Like the Mexican-themed Shabbat dinner we hosted a little while ago.  It all started when we decided to make enchiladas (my roommate’s recipe, and they were delicious and filled with sweet potato, black beans, corn, and sauteed onions and red pepper, covered in tomato sauce and cheese….yum!).

From there we spiraled a bit out of control and discussed purchasing sombreros and a piñata.  I know, we’re classy like that.

In the end, we kept the Mexican theme to the food only.

Originally, I had thought to do a quinoa side dish with black beans and mango, which is kind of a classic.  However, there were black beans in the enchiladas, and I didn’t want to repeat flavors.

Also, have you noticed how everything that’s “Mexican” involved either beans or corn?  I decided to think a little bit more outside the box.

So I did a Google search for “Mexican Quinoa,” and I found a recipe for a quinoa, corn, and spinach salad at The Nourishing Gourmet.  I wasn’t interested in the content of the salad (it had cilantro in it…I HATE cilantro), but I did like the sound of the vinaigrette.

I adjusted it a little, kept the mangoes from my original idea, and tossed in some red peppers for a crisp crunch.

This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious.  The whole recipe can come together while you wait for your quinoa to cook.

Cumin is what makes the vinaigrette great.  Cumin is a fantastic spice with a warm, earthy flavor that pairs really well with the brightness of mango.

Oh, and dinner in general was great too.  Good people, lots of wine, and plenty of leftovers – my favorite kind of meal.

Ode to Fall

Finally, it’s fall.  I love love LOVE fall.  It is, without a doubt, my favorite season. 

I love the cool, crisp weather that isn’t quite cold yet, but it’s still invigorating.  I love wearing cute outfits that involve any combination of sweaters, scarves, and boots.  I love how it’s not cold enough to wear gloves yet, but you’re fingers still get a little chilly, giving you the perfect excuse to always have a cup of hot tea, coffee, or (my personal fav) spiced apple cider with you.

I love going apple picking, which my family did every year growing up.  I love the month-long marathon of Jewish holidays that makes you stuff your face with so much good food, yell at yourself for eating so much that it hurts, then do it all again at the next meal just a few hours later.

I love the smell of fall.  I love the vibrant colors of fall (which have yet to get here, but they’ll come).  And of course, I love fall flavors.

This soup is exactly what you need on a cool, crisp fall day.  It’s warm, it’s delicious, it is literally fall in a cup.

This is a recipe I found about a year ago.  Everyone makes butternut squash soup, so I was trying to figure out which version of it appealed to me most.  Then I spotted this gem from Ina Garten on Food Network’s site, and I knew it was the beginning of something beautiful.

I’ve noticed that my MO in recipe adaptations is to cut the oil and up the spicing.  In this case, the spicing is curry powder.  Is there such a thing as too much curry?

Anyway, like I said, about a year ago I found this recipe.  I made it several times throughout winter.  And then March came along, and I just couldn’t justify making fall soups anymore.  That, and I was already in spring mode, which seems to start in February in DC.  But oh, how I’ve craved this bowl of deliciousness since then.  I held off as long I could, I waited and waited for the weather to change.  And now, it finally feels like the fall I’ve been waiting for.  It’s finally time for hot apple cider, pumpkin pies, and butternut squash soup.

Please  excuse me while I gobble down another bowl….or five.  Why oh why did I only make one small batch?