Our Thanksgiving Menu. :)

Attempting anything in the kitchen that has the precursor of French can be a bit intimidating. What I find French food to be is patience. So for this recipe of French onion soup, the only thing that makes it challenging is the caramelizing of the onions. Why? Because it takes nearly thirty to forty-five minutes! There is an up side to this (besides the reward of delicious savory goodness)—while the onions are busy caramelizing, it gives you time to prep everything else. You can take your sweet time making sure everything else is just as you like it.

The bowls! Oh my goodness. This is the reason why it has taken me so long to attempt this soup. Anytime I would find them, they would always be ridiculously overpriced. And lets face it, French onion soup without the onion soup crocks is just not the same. Cupping your hands around the ceramic bowl and watching the cheese melt into the broth is an experience unlike any other soup can provide! So my recommendation is to order these adorable little crocks online where you can get them for less. Another idea is to make the French onion soup eating experience a family-style one. If you don’t have the bowls, but you are still craving this decadent meal, just take out any oven safe bowl and that will surely suffice! Having a large French onion soup in front of you and yours is just the way to spend a perfect autumn evening.

ingredients

6 medium sized yellow onions (about 2lbs) halved and thinly sliced so they look like half circles

1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter

1 and 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dry thyme)

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 cup white cooking wine (or any dry white wine)

4 cups beef broth or stock

2 cups chicken broth or stock

1 tbsp all purpose flour

3 cups grated Gruyere or fontina cheese

2 cups cubed baguette bread (or any tougher dense bread like ciabatta)

salt and pepper for additional seasoning

In a deep stockpot, melt the stick of butter on low heat. If you would like to cut down on the butter intake, feel free to use ½ a stick of butter and a ¼ cup of olive oil. While the butter is melting add the thyme salt and pepper. When the butter has melted, add your onions. The onions look like a lot, but they reduce to about a quarter of their size when they are done caramelizing. Leave the onions on low heat (the low heat is very important to the caramelizing process) and stir occasionally for 30 to 45 minutes until they turn a beautiful golden brown.

When the onions are done caramelizing, add the tablespoon of four and stir. Allow to cook for 2 more minutes. Then add the wine and turn the heat up to high to deglaze the bottom of the pot and stir while scraping the bottom so you’ll get all of any goodness that may have gotten stuck there. Cook for an additional 2 minutes while stirring. You’ll notice the consistency of the mixture thicken because of the flour- yum! Then add your beef and chicken broth and turn the heat down to low. Season the soup with as much salt and pepper to your liking and allow it to simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, turn your broil up on high and arrange your cubed pieces of bread and on a baking sheet- or the broiler sheet (which is what I did). Allow them to turn into a crispy golden brown color- this may take 3-5 minutes.

When your soup is done, ladle generously into your bowls. Top the soup with the toasted bread and enough cheese to cover the bread. Then stick your bowls into the broiler for about 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese and allow it to bubble. And voila! You have successfully made a French dish!

Note: In order to save my soup and eat have it as leftovers, I save the actual soup part and don’t top it off with bread and cheese until I am ready to eat it again! Just store the soup in your fridge and warm it up when you are ready to have it again. You can even freeze it! Then just follow the directions with the bread and cheese accordingly!

Tastefully yours,

Lauren & Olympia

That is pronounced fah-kee, and as a Greek child growing up in this country I had tremendous amount of fun whenever I would ask my mother to cook some faki. I felt like I was inadvertently cursing and getting away with saying a bad word over and over again. It was very liberating as I was an awkwardly quiet child.

Faki is something you grow up loving or hating. It’s one of those meals that don’t occupy a middle ground of eh. Again, being that awkward kid, I loved it when every one of my friends hated it, and consequently teased me for it.

Making this our first entry is triumphant. It’s not only a delicious dish, but very healthy. Lentils are packed with iron and high-level proteins. You can’t ever have too much of this stuff.

Ingredients

½ lb brown lentils, rinsed

3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 yellow onions, diced

4 cloves of garlic

3 tomatoes, diced

1 chicken or vegetable bouillon (if you want to make your dish strictly vegetarian)

2 bay leaves

3 teaspoons dried oregano

8 oz of tomato sauce (we use Goya)

1 tbsp of tomato paste

¼ cup olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

handful chopped parsley to garnish

On the Side (Optional)

Red wine vinegar

Pepperocini peppers

1. Add a quarter cup of olive oil in a large pot. Allow the oil to get hot. Place the onions in the pot and sauté them for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, and celery and continue to sauté until the onions have become translucent. This usually takes 5 minutes and also helps the vegetables get soft.

2. Add the lentils and stir them around to have completely blended them with the other ingredients.

3. Place your diced tomatoes in and stir. Follow that by adding the oregano, salt, and pepper.

4. Pour approximately 6 cups of water in the pot and stir. Add the bouillon cube and bay leaves; allow the mixture to come to a boil on medium-high heat. Then bring it down to a simmer and allow it to cook for an hour.

Occasionally stir the pot and taste the soup to make sure you have the right ratio of spices. I usually find myself adding salt and pepper throughout cooking. Also, if you think your lentil soup is getting too thick and running low on water, use your judgment and an additional cup. Cooking unravels as you do it and it’s never a mistake to alter the recipe. If something is telling you to add more water or salt, go for it. Don’t doubt your inner instinctual chef.

Once the soup is ready, pour it into bowls and garnish with the chopped parsley. If you want to enjoy it the authentic Greek way, put a splash of red wine vinegar and add a pepporocini or two in there—it really adds some heat!

Kali orixi, or bon appetit!

Tastefully yours,

Lauren & Olympia

Cooking is one of those satisfactory pursuits because of its ephemeral quality. Nothing you ever cook ever comes out the same and everything that is cooked is short-lived. The essence is in this transient nature—it’s a creation that parallels our own existence. The act of cooking is art without being ostentatious. It is not concerned with permanency, and is encouraging a purely existential lifestyle by highlighting the present as its main affair. When removed from the context of high-class restaurant establishments and cut throat competitions (as seen on various food oriented networks and programs), cooking can be the most rewarding pastime. Its interactive quality makes it the perfect way to share yourself, your culture, and your creativity. The intimacy of cooking is multidimensional and compels the use of all your senses: touching the texture of rice as you scoop it up for measurement, smelling the bouquet of ingredients resting on a low flame as they permeate the air, listening to the olive oil begin to spark on a pan, assembling your creation for presentation, and taste, well, that one is pretty evident—that one is your own personal critic.

Tastefully yours,

Lauren & Olympia