Stick of unsalted Butter
8 Large Onions
2 oz. Port wine
2 oz. balsamic vinegar
2 quarts chicken stock
4 or 5 slices of thick cut bacon
1 bouquet garni (sprig of parsley, few sprigs of thyme, one bay leaf - wrapped and tied in cheesecloth)
salt and pepper
2 baguettes of french bread (sliced on the diagonal and pre-toasted)
Gruyere Cheese (enough to cut into thick slices that will cover how many bowls you're intending to produce)
In a large pot, melt the butter and brown the onions over low heat (20 minutes). Bring up the heat to medium and stir in the port and vinegar, scraping up all the fond. Add the stock. Add the bacon. Add the bouquet garni. Bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add your salt and pepper. Cook it all down till it's good enough (an hour?)
Have your oven preheated to BROIL. Ladle out your soup into small bowls or mugs and float one of your pre-toasted baguette slices on top. Place the slice of Gruyere on top (you could also shred the cheese, but it's better if corners of a slice hang over the edge of the bowl and burn into a crust).
Heat a dish of your soup bowls on a baking sheet under the broiler until the cheese is scorched and bubbling (you could also use a butane creme brulee torch for this purpose).
Dig into that melted/crusted/onion/wine/herb conglomerate, and eat spoon-fulls of stinky melted dairy mixed with crunchy crusted and rustic onion lacquer. Do it with your mouth.
Borscht is a very hearty Russian soup made with beets, which make it extremely red. Ukraine Borscht has meat in it and if you wanted you could probably also add beans. But this is more of a regular vegetable Borscht. How thin or thick you want it varies from the different recipes I've tried, but I like it kind of clear with big chunks floating in it. This is a recipe which I've simplified. There's a lot of different ingredients, but not a lot of steps. The only tricky part is grating a beet, because they stain everything dark red, including hands and wood with the juices. To remove the stains, sprinkle surfaces with salt and then wash with soap and water. You could also wear latex gloves when handling them.
6 cups cold water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onions
1 cup diced yukon gold potato
1 beet, scrubbed and halved
1 large can crushed tomatoes
Add all of the ingredients above to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove the beet halves and discard. During the meantime, prep all the ingredients below.
2 tbs. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
5 or 6 cloves of garlic, minced
4 small tomatoes, quartered
2 cups Red Cabbage, sliced
1 beet, run through a cheese grater
2 yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
chopped fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
In a skillet, saute the onions in the butter until glassy. Add the garlic and cook till onions become golden. Add the tomatoes and stir for 1 minute. Then add the cabbage and cover until slightly wilted. Dump the contents of the skillet into the rest of the soup within the stockpot.
Add all other ingredients to the stockpot. Bring to a boil once again, then simmer uncovered until the chopped potatoes are tender. Serve hot in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream, and some crusty bread.
This dish could easily become vegan by using Canola oil instead of butter and omitting the sour cream.
Betty gave birth to 3 healthy puppies 3 days ago. It's hard to tell by the pictures, but each pup is about the size of 1 and a half wine corks. Food related posts to come soon; I promise.
