French Onion Soup

It's been kind of cloudy and grey the past couple of days in Portland, even though it's terrible June weather it does make for great soup weather. French onion soup is filling and warm, so it's a nice contrast to the cold and wet weather outside.

I'm a terrible food blogger, because when I went to the store I forgot to buy a loaf of French bread. As a replacement I used the whole grain sourdough bread that was sitting in the bread box. The sourdough was a good replacement, I recommend using sourdough if you don't have any French bread.

This is a very simple dish with only a few ingredients. The hardest part about preparing this dish is cutting the onions, it's going to make you cry, so it's a good time to work through some emotions and think about that childhood pet that's now, "living at a farm upstate." If the onions make you cry too much don't worry, eating the finished soup is like a warm hug.

French Onion Soup

(4 servings)

• 3 1/2 medium yellow onions coarsely chopped
• 3 TBS. butter
• 3/4 cup dry white or red wine (just make sure it's not sweet wine)
• 1 pint vegetable stock or beef stock
• 1 TBS flour
• 4 slices of french bread
• 5 oz. grated Gruyere cheese
• salt and pepper

1. Find the largest pot in your kitchen, okay maybe not that big, but large enough to hold a pint of stock and three and half onions. Melt the butter in the pot over medium high heat. Once the butter has melted add the onions.
2. Preheat the oven to 375. Toast the bread, just a little to remove most of the moisture. It should be slightly crisp. 
3. Occasionally stir the onions, until most of them have turned golden brown. This is an import step in the soup, because it's where most of the flavor develops. Once the onions have browned add 1/2 cup of the wine. Stir occasionally until all the wine has cooked out. Then add the flour to the onions and let the flour brown and stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the stock once that's happened. Scrape the flour off the bottom of the pot and add the rest of the wine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the soup simmer for 5-10 minutes and allow the wine to cook off. 
4. Grab 4 oven proof bowls and scoop the soup until it fills 3/4 of the bowl. Lay one slice of bread on top of the soup and layer the grated cheese on top of the soup until you can barely see the soup and bread. Place the bowls in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the edge cheese browns a bit. 
5. Remove from oven and eat with fork.

The bowls will be very hot! It's a good idea to have a mat or pad to place the bowl on once you remove it from the oven. 

For a soup that's mostly onions, it's very filling. If you want a good red wine to pair with this soup I recommend a Cabernet Sauvignon, because of the wine's rich buttery taste. Enjoy!

Photos by Katy Weaver 

Fish Tacos

Put down that taco right now! That taco doesn't compair to a fish taco. If you are eating a fish taco, my apologies, carry on. If you're not eating a taco right now, why not make these fish tacos?

When most people say they don't like fish tacos it's, because they've never tried fish tacos. I'll admit that ordering fish tacos from some restaurants might be more of a gamble than ordering the carnes asada, but if you try this recipe at home, I bet that you'll be hooked on fish tacos.

There's different ways you can cook your fish, but I chose to grill my fish. Grilling is a quick and flavorful way to cook your fish. I decided to cook snapper and it turned out wonderfully, but if you can't get ahold of snapper any sort of white fish will work.

Fish Tacos

• 1 lbs snapper
• 8 white corn tortillas
• 1 mango cut into small cubes
• 1 avocado sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped red cabbage
• 1/3 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
• a small sprig of cilantro chopped
• 1 lime juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

1. Place the snapper in a pan deep enough to hold the fish and the juice from the lime. Lay out your fish in the pan and pour the lime juice over it. Sprinkle the cayenne pepper, paprika, a dash of salt and pepper over the fish. Oh, did you make sure your fish is deboned? You should probably do that. Let the fish sit for a  moment. 
2. Since the fish takes almost no time at all to cook, now is a good time to cut up the mango, cabbage, onion, and avocado. 
3. Now that all the produce is cut up it's a good time to put the fish on the grill. You should only flip the fish once. Cook each side for about 5 minutes, but your grill might vary, so keep an eye on your fish so it doesn't burn. Once you've flipped your fish place the tortillas on the grill just long enough for the flames to heat them and make them soft.
4. Once the fish is finished grilling you can start making your tacos. I like to top my fish tacos with hot sauce and cilantro lime sour cream, which you can make by adding some chopped cilantro and some lime zest to sour cream. If you're watching your weight you can use plain yogurt instead of sour cream. 

Aren't you glad you finally tried fish tacos? They're just as delicious as pork or beef tacos, but they're way better for you. Enjoy!

Photos by Katy Weaver

Stacked French Toast

Breakfast for dinner is always the right choice. When I noticed I had half of a day old baguette sitting on my counter, I decided to make some French toast with French bread. I was feeling fancy so I decided to add some berry syrup and cream cheese. The result was a classier than usual breakfast dish.

Stacked French Toast

• 1 day old baguette
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• berry syrup
• cream cheese

1. Mix the half & half, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and the salt in a pie pan. Slice the into slices that are a couple centimeters in width. Dip and flip the slices in the batter. Place into a skillet, which should be set at medium high. Let each side get golden brown.
2. Stack 4 slices on a plate. Between each slice smear cream cheese and drizzle some berry syrup. Top with berries, cream cheese, berry syrup, and powdered sugar. 

A simple dish made fancy by using half & half instead of milk, adding cream cheese and berry syrup, and stacking the tiny discs of bready goodness.

Zesty Bruschetta

Maybe it's just the season, but I've been adding lemon and lemon zest to lots of my dishes. Having citrus balsami vinegar in the pantry made the decision to add lemon zest to this appetizer an easy choice. The result is a fresher tasting bruschetta than usual.

Zesty Bruschetta

• baguette sliced
• roma tomatoes sliced
• mozzarella
• fresh basil sliced
• citrus balsamic vinegar
• lemon zest

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 5 minutes. Flip the slices and place a slice of mozzarella on each of the baguette discs. Let the edges of the bread brown just a bit. Take out of the oven.
2. Place a slice of tomato on each of the bread slices. Sprinkle with the basil and lemon zest. Drizzle with the citrus balsamic vinegar.

Citrus Breakfast

Having a grapefruit for breakfast every morning is a great way to shed some pounds, but it's pretty boring. Broiling the grapefruit make a boring breakfast staple into something fun, warm, and sweet.

Adding lemon berry pancakes to this breakfast was a natural choice. They complemented each other very nicely and I was able to zest part of the grapefruit for the pancakes.

Broiled Grapefruit

• 1 grapefruit
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Cut the Grapefruit in half. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar on the top of each grapefruit slice. 
2. Put into a small casserole dish and broil for 5 minutes or until the edges are slightly burnt. 

Adapted from this recipe.

Lemon Berry Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of grapefruit zest (or lemon zest)
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup berries (thawed if frozen)

1. In a small bowl mix together all the wet ingredients including the zest. In a separate larger bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and mix the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Fold the berries into the batter. 
2. Scoop into desired sizes onto a griddle. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Serve with butter and powdered sugar. Or you can make a lemon yogurt sauce to go over the pan cakes.

Lemon Yogurt Sauce

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1.5 TBS lemon juice
• 1 TBS honey
• 1.5 TBS brown sugar

Mix and make to taste.

Combined these two make a citrus breakfast that won't leave you bitter. 

Photos by Katy Weaver