Our Fun Life!

French Onion Soup

I am ashamed to admit that I had my 6 3/4 qt. Le Creuset oval dutch oven for over a year and never used it. Shame on me! I got it for a super deal at Costco and then put it away in my side table cabinet so it wouldn't get scratched in my regular pan cupboard~ then I forgot I had it. Oy. I broke it in by making french onion soup and have used it three times this week. It rocks!

The onions are starting to brown:

I took this photo and later saw that the bread bowl sucked up most of the broth. I added more broth before chowing down.

 

French Onion Soup

6 very large yellow onions, sliced

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. dry sherry

8 c. Beef stock

2 tsp. thyme

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper

Bread bowls

Gruyere cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Melt butter and olive oil in a dutch oven pot.
2. Caramelize the onions in the fat mixture over medium low heat stirring occasionally.  This may take over 40 minutes.
3. Add sherry and cook for one minute.
4. Add stock, thyme, and bay leaf.
5. Scrape bottom of pan to loosen any hard bits.
6. Bring to a slow simmer and cover for 20 minutes.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Cut tops off of bread and dig out most of the center. Place bread pieces next to the bowl for dipping.
9. Ladle soup into bread bowl and top with the cheese.

Debbie's Lemon Pound Cake

Ooh La La~ this cake is divine and very moist! My friend Debbie who is beautiful inside and out always brings me a slice of this lemon heaven. I got her recipe and made it twice in two days and gave one away. It got rave reviews too from both of my brothers and their families.

Lemon Pound Cake

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 2/3 c. granulated sugar

5 eggs, beaten

1 c. vegetable oil

3 c. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

2 1/2 tsp. lemon extract

1 c. whole milk

Glaze

Stir fresh lemon juice into 1 box powdered sugar until glazing consistency

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Blend in beaten eggs.
3. Blend in oil.
4. Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder until combined and gradually add to the cake batter.
5. Gradually add milk and lemon extract and mix until smooth.
6. Bake 320* for 1 hour 20 minutes in a greased and floured tube pan.
7. Test with toothpick until it comes out clean.
8. Use wooden skewer to punch holes in cake for glaze.
9. Drizzle glaze on while cake is still warm.

Have you seen the list of 100 things every omnivore should eat before you die on various food blogs? The red ones I have tried and the crossed out ones I will never try...

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile- I have tried alligator
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht- looks interesting but I haven't seen it on any restaurant menus around here
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari- LOVE this with a spicy dip
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes- from my garden
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini- had one yesterday
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Results= 54 that I have tried...12 that I won't try...not too shabby!

Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole

This is one of my most requested recipes. It's pretty sweet and very flavorful. I prefer it topped with coconut and chopped pecans. Helen likes it with large toasted marshmallows. I have also made it with a crushed cornflake, brown sugar, nut, cinnamon and melted butter mixture.

This picture shows it topped with half coconut and pecans and half large marshmallows. The sweet potato mixture can be made in advance and warmed in the oven before adding the toppings.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole

5-6 very large and fat fresh sweet potatoes
1/2 c. unsalted butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. bourbon
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
12 oz. can evaporated milk

Directions:

1. Scrub sweet potatoes and place in a large stock pot.
2. Cover with water and bring to a rolling boil.
3. Boil until tender.
4. Place cooked sweet potatoes on a cutting board and slice each one open. Let cool for 15 minutes.
5. Spoon cooked sweet potato into large mixer bowl and discard the skins and any fibrous ends.
6. In a small saucepan, melt butter and sugar stirring constantly.
7. Add in bourbon, cinnamon, and salt and cook for thirty more seconds.
8. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
9. Pour mixture over sweet potatoes.
10. Slowly beat sweet potato mixture with an electric mixer.
11. Gradually add in evaporated milk until desired consistency. I usually use the entire can.
12. Taste and adjust seasonings.
13. Spoon mixture into a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Place favorite topping over the casserole unless you are using marshmallows which need to be added only the last 10 minutes of your baking time.
14. Bake at 375* for 25 minutes or until heated through and bubbly around the edges.

Sweet potato stuffed Ebelskivers

A couple months ago I bought an ebelskiver pan from Williams-Sonoma. I made a batch of my homemade pancake batter, put a baby pat of butter in each section of the pan, waited for it to melt and sizzle, filled each hole half full, waited for them to puff a bit, put two teaspoons of leftover sweet potato casserole in the center of each ebelskiver, and then carefully turned each one over by rotating them with two forks.
Giddy up good! They didn't even need syrup. These would be wonderful stuffed with peanut butter, chocolate, jam, cinnamon applesauce, bananas, etc. 

Happy New Year!

 
Gidget and Lizzie are enjoying their last few days under the 2008 Christmas tree. We finally got an artificial tree which is so much easier to deal with. Lizzie attacks the tree every day so all of the ornaments are higher up. It took Gidget about five days to get used to the tree and now she naps under it all day. We used an old tablecloth as the skirt because Lizzie would enjoy my snowman one a bit too much since she is so playful.
Helen and Hunter have a month off between semesters at college. They are just hanging out, doing a lot of eating, reading, and movie watching. Bill was rear ended again for the third time this year. All three while sitting at traffic lights. His back has been really messed up and he has had great difficulty walking, sitting, and standing over the past few weeks. Got an MRI and he now has two bulging disks. At some point in the future, he will need surgery. I am enjoying our two week holiday break from school and have been cooking up a storm, working on my cookbook, purging, organizing, and now have started to grade the mountain of papers and student projects. Oh boy!
Happy New Year!