Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas and French Onion Soup















I have had the best Christmas. Great breakfast with family and afternoon movie (Newest Sherlock Holmes). Turkey dinner with all the trimmings - including an engagement announcement by my daughter. Wedding to take place sometime this Summer. Until I can think straight, I'll just give cooking instructions for the easiest, cheapest dish I know. French Onion Soup. Save all your meat scraps, bones, and steak doggie bags and freeze them. When you are ready to have soup tomorrow, either fry the hodge podge meat mixture in 1/4 cup good olive oil or bake it at 350 degrees for an hour - just get it all brown and crispy. Then cover it with cold water and add onion, celery, and (if you want - I never do) some carrot. Simmer at least an hour, but up to eight hours. It may be an old wife's tale, but nevertheless, I don't cover the pan, since I have always been told that it will "sour the broth". Cool it down, refrigerate overnight, remove all the solid fat from the top of what should at this point look like brown jello. Then heat it up, strain out everything and throw it away. Now add what ever white wine you would like, and salt and pepper to taste. Slice 6 yellow onions (white onions are too strong), and fry them in your hugest frying pan in half olive oil and half butter. As soon as they turn carmel colored thrown them into the broth. On a nonstick cookie sheet, arrange as many slices of french bread as you have guests, cover them with good Swiss cheese and broil until melted and a tiny bit browned. Throw a piece of bread with the cheese in each bowl full of soup and you're done. If you are lucky enough to have French Onion Soup Bowls, you can put the bread on top of the soup and then add the cheese to the top and broil at this point. Before the advent of the nonstick cookie sheet, this made a much better tasting soup. Now, I can't tell the difference.

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