Not Just for the French

You can call it French Onion Soup, or just fancy onion soup; it’s delicious no matter what you call it.  I’ve read lots of recipes for authentic French Onion Soup—which I would guess by its name originated in France—but I wonder if anyone really knows where this wonderful dish originated?  

Anyone can cook some onions collected from the garden, add a few more ingredients with liquid and call it onion soup.  There’s nothing magic about this; however, I think the magic part is what the French did by adding the bread and gooey cheese topping.  I was surprised to learn that lots of recipes for this soup don’t even include the bread on top— some only have a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese.  And as you might also have guessed, the type of cheese used is also up to the preference of the writer of the recipe, or the cook at home.  The selected cheese is probably in the category of the “meltables.” 

Italians are also known for grating fresh Parmesan cheese on hot soup.  I know all the soups we had in Italy served it with cheese.  As it melts into the hot liquid, the cheese creates a delicious gooey mess that sticks to your spoon, and every bite is cheesy-delicious.  And here, many restaurants serve the soup with some toasty croutons for a crunchy bite on top.  

  

I made some onion soup last week.  The first night I served it with French sourdough bread cubes and small mozzarella cheese chunks on top.  The cheese melted quickly in the short visit under the broiler, and the cheese flavor was delicately mild.  

The second time I served it with a Jarlsberg cheese.  It had more of a Swiss-cheese flavor, and was a little sharper.  We liked it both ways.   The type of cheese you use is purely your preference—as long as it melts nicely over the bread.  There is no “soup rule” when you cook in your own kitchen.  And if you order French Onion Soup in restaurants, each one will have its own version. 

My recipe below makes four servings so there’s room to experiment four ways.  If you like onion soup, but have never made it, try a couple of different breads or cheeses and see how you like it.  And remember, the higher the fat content of the cheese the quicker it will melt. 

Here’s how I made mine:    

 

FRENCH ONION SOUP 

2 or 3 large onions, thinly sliced

4 T extra virgin olive oil

4 C beef stock

1 C chicken stock

¼ C sherry wine

 1 ½ t fresh thyme, minced

Salt and pepper to taste 

Topping: 

French sourdough bread, sliced and cubed

Jarlsberg cheese, cut into small chunks 

Heat the oil in a saucepan (with a lid).  Add the onion slices and cook until tender and golden.  Add the stock, sherry, thyme and spices.  Bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes.   

Preheat the broiler.  Your soup is ready for the topping.  Divide it into four ovenproof bowls or ramekins.  Cut the bread into 4 slices—about ¾ inch thick.  Cut the slices into cubes and distribute on top of your bowls.  Distribute the cheese chunks over the bread.  The amount of cheese used is optional here.  Use as much or as little as you like. I like a lot.  

Note: I prefer the bread cubed because it makes the soup easier to eat, and I like the cheese cut into small chunks because they melt evenly, and there’s some cheese in every bite.  If you prefer it the way it looks in some French restaurants, toast the bread slices before placing them on top of the soup, and shave or grate the cheese over the bread.) 

Enjoy!

©Pauline Boren 2009 

Make it a Pepper Party

Poppers should be defined as a delightful finger food to be enjoyed with family and friends—all while sitting around a pool on a warm and lazy day.  And, of course, add a few more finger foods and cold drinks to round out this summer fare. 

Well, just because it’s fall, and winter is coming up, that’s no reason to put this recipe away until the summer.  My poppers can be enjoyed all year round alone as appetizers, or alongside a hearty bowl of your favorite cold-weather soup.  You’ll get raves when you serve a tray of these hot bites at your next party, and they’re just as tasty prepared over a hot grill as they are when baked in your oven. 

There are many recipes for poppers out there.  Some are filled only with cheese, and others include cheese and a couple of other spices.  However, most of the recipes I found call for a batter and deep-frying.  I prefer to keep the calories down and omit this step.  I tossed in a few extra ingredients to add some more flavor, and this is how I’ll be making them from now on.  

 

Jalapeno Poppers 

8 large fresh jalapeno peppers

2 Italian sausages, spicy or sweet

3 green onions, finely sliced

3 T bell pepper, finely chopped

½ C coarsely grated jack cheese

½ C coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

¼ C fresh cilantro, minced 

Preheat oven to 375º

Line a baking sheet with foil. 

Remove the casing from the sausages.  In a small fry pan break up the meat and slowly brown it.  Drain off any fat.  Cool.  Prepare the other ingredients and combine them with the meat.  

Cut the stem off the peppers.  With a pepper corer or small paring knife, carefully remove all the seeds and membranes without cutting through the skin.  

With a very small spoon, carefully stuff and pack each pepper with the filling.   Place them on the baking sheet and set your timer for 15 minutes.  Continue for 5 more minutes until they are tender and the filling is bubbling and oozing.  Every oven is a little different so keep an eye on them to prevent scorching. 

Remove the peppers to a serving tray and serve them while they’re hot.  Any baked leftover peppers can be warmed up in the microwave.  You could even make them up ahead to serve later or even the next day.  Just prepare the filling and cut the peppers and refrigerate separately.  Stuff and bake just before serving. 

For a variation of this recipe (see photo below), cut the peppers open and leave the stems on, leave out the 3 tablespoons bell pepper, add ¼ cup frozen or drained canned corn, and substitute any cheddar cheese for the jack and mozzarella.  I prefer the extra sharp in this recipe.   I had some leftover filling and also stuffed a bell pepper to see how it would taste.  The jalapenos were delicious prepared this way as well—and so was the bell!

 

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2009

A Traditional Italian Favorite

In old Italy polenta was a staple in every kitchen and the equivalent of a serving of bread.  In China the staple is rice.  In Mexico, it’s the tortilla, and so on.  Every country has its own starch or carbohydrate that was usually made from an ingredient grown or readily available in the area.  In Italy it must have been corn.

 

My mother took me to Italy in the early 1960’s to meet my relatives.  My grandmother and cousins lived in the northern region of Italy.  My grandmother made her polenta first thing in the morning.  She usually had some for breakfast while it was still hot with a little milk and sugar or cinnamon—much like the grits in our southern states.  Across town, my Aunt Ines made a fresh polenta for their noon meal and served it with Italian cold cuts of salami, mortadella, prosciutto or sorpressata.  She also had a selection of Italian cheeses that tasted so much better than anything I had ever had back in California.  Sometimes she also made a hot stew and we had that for lunch.  

Here in America, my mother usually served it hot for dinner with one of her wonderful dishes.  I can’t even begin to name them all because there were so many.  They ranged from roast pork with rosemary, sweetbreads with cinnamon, stewed tripe with tomatoes, chicken stew with mushrooms, escargot with spinach, and even tuna in tomato and herb sauce.  Most of her dishes also included parsley, onions, garlic and white wine.  They all were delicious alone, but even better with some crusty French bread for sopping up the gravy. 

However, it was always a big dinner highlight if mom cooked a polenta and turned it out on a wooden serving board placed in the center of the table.  After the steam subsided a little, she cut big slabs from four sides for our family servings.  None of us ever left that table hungry! 

I make polenta every few weeks—more in the fall and winter than in warm weather.  I take a short cut and use the quickest recipe I know.  It’s from my Aunt Rina’s San Francisco Italian Federation cookbook.  I’m sure one of the Italian members of the club came up with the recipe one day when she was just too tired to stand in front of the stove and stir the polenta for thirty minutes.  Mom always made the stovetop recipe, and so did my cousin Ellen in Santa Barbara.  Her husband, Cousin Fred, just liked it better that way.  I really can’t tell the difference.  

To each his own, so if you like polenta, try it both ways to determine your favorite. 

Oven Polenta  

1 C corn meal (I use Albers fat-free cornmeal)

3 C cold water

4 T cold unsalted butter

1 t salt

 

Combine all the ingredients in a glass baking dish with a lid.  If you are using a Pyrex dish with no lid, then cover the dish with aluminum foil.  Place the dish in a cold oven. 

Turn the oven on to 350º and bake it for 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

You can serve it up hot.  I usually bake it in the mornings to get it out of the way, and then heat up a serving for dinner and refrigerate the leftover.  Any leftovers can be sliced and toasted in a 400º oven for a few minutes, or warmed in the microwave.  Try a slice the next day with some cheese or salami on top.  It makes a great lunch. 

The original recipe says it serves two.  However, I’d say that the two servings would be quite large, and at our house it serves more like four, and even six.  

(Note:  You can add more butter or some grated Parmesan cheese for a richer polenta.  As I recall, my relatives in Italy only made it with the three basic ingredients—cornmeal, water and salt.  The dish they served with it was usually buttery and rich enough that the polenta could stand alone.) 

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2009

Pepper Up Your Next Meal

 

Okay, are you ready for another hot dinner your whole family and friends will enjoy!  How about some red-hot sausages and peppers?  How many times have you heard me say a recipe is easy to prepare?    Well, this one is no exception so I’m saying it again—Easy.  Read on and you’ll agree. 

 

Depending on your preference, you can serve it in a number of ways:

To celebrate a sporting event, throw a couple of sausages and sauce over a big toasted French roll.  Add some coleslaw or salad and it’s a meal.  For that quiet dinner at home with the family, serve it over some fresh pasta such as linguini or fettuccini, and get out plenty of paper napkins to handle that red sauce.  Now for the kids—and depending on their ages—you might want to slice the sausages up into bite-size pieces first, and add a nice side of mashed potatoes.  And don’t forget that side of greens like a mixed salad, or steamed vegetable such as peas or broccoli.  

Of course, if you like Italian food, you may want to serve it over a slab of polenta or a large crusty roll.  I like it any way and don’t really decide until it’s cooked and ready to serve.   

 

Any leftovers freeze well, and are always ready when you’re pressed for time and everyone is hungry.  This recipe is also good to take along for a potluck dinner.  It travels well, and if stored in an ovenproof or microwave-safe casserole dish heats up quickly in either a microwave or conventional oven.  

Sausage and Peppers

6 sausages (mild or spicy)

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 large onion, sliced in rings and separated

4 cloves garlic, sliced

3 T olive oil

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes

1 C sherry (or marsala or port wine)

2 T tomato paste

½ C water

¼ C fresh basil, chopped

1 t dry oregano

1/8 t red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste 

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the sausages and toss to brown on both sides.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  In the same pan, toss the peppers, onions and garlic and stir to sauté for 2 minutes.  

Add the tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, water and spices.  (If you’re using hot and spicy sausages you may want to forget the red pepper flakes.  On the other hand, if you’re the spicy kind, leave them in or even add another shake!) 

 

Return the sausages to the skillet and nestle down in the sauce.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Simmer covered on low for 30 minutes.  If there’s too much liquid, continue simmering for a few more minutes uncovered to reduce.  Season to taste and dish it up your favorite way.  That’s dinner! 

Serve and enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2009

The Last Salad of Summer

Even though summer is almost over, it’s not too late to enjoy a cool and delicious salad for a whole meal.  If you like the tender little white beans—Italian cannellini—and pasta, you’re going to like this salad.  It’s filling, and all the vegetables, beans and pasta will keep you quite satisfied until your next meal.  

My recipe has Chinese dressing and Italian pasta and beans.  It’s a great combination served as a side dish, or with some shrimp, chicken, tuna or some firm tofu for a whole meal.  Today I tossed in some steamed shrimp for a change.  The structure is loose, and you can add some of your own favorite vegetables.  You can also vary the protein or pasta. 

 

When you add the pasta, and to keep it from sticking after it’s cooked, just toss it with a tiny bit of vegetable oil.  Even cooked lentils or rice could be substituted for the pasta.   

The dressing recipe, however, is rigid and must be strictly adhered to for the proper balance of flavors.  For the proportions in my recipe below, and since I don’t like a heavily dressed salad, I only used half.  If you’re increasing the quantity of the vegetables or pasta, go ahead and use the whole recipe.    

The dressing marinates the salad, and it tastes better after it has chilled a few hours or overnight.  It’s also prettier when served in a clear glass bowl.

 

White Bean and Pasta Salad

1 (15.5 oz.) can white cannellini beans, drained

4 green onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

3 small carrots, peeled and sliced

½ red pepper, thinly sliced

3 T fresh cilantro, minced

4 oz. (more or less) thin pasta, cooked and cooled

 

Dressing

¼ C seasoned rice vinegar

¼ C canola oil

2 T sesame oil

1 T sugar (or Splenda)

1 t fresh ginger, finely minced or grated

1 t salt

¼ t black ground pepper 

In a glass jar, combine the dressing ingredients.  Shake well to blend and set aside. 

Slice all the vegetables.  Put all the vegetables in a large bowl with the beans and pasta.  (If you’re adding any cold meat, shrimp, fish or tofu, add one cup after you cut it into bite-size pieces.)  

Shake the dressing well and pour it over the salad.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least three hours or overnight. 

Enjoy!

©Pauline Boren 2009