Category: Appetizer

French Onion Soup

Created on 12/28/2022

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 large red onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (48 fluid ounce) can chicken broth
  • 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
  • ½ cup red wine
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 sprigs fresh parsley
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 4 thick slices French bread
  • 8 slices Gruyère cheese, at room temperature
  • ½ cup shredded Asiago cheese, at room temperature
  • 4 pinches paprika

Instructions:

Step One: Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in red onions, sweet onions, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy, about 35 minutes

Step Two: Stir in chicken broth, beef broth, red wine, and Worcestershire sauce. Bundle parsley, thyme, and bay leaf with kitchen twine; add to the pot. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard herb bundle. Reduce heat to low; stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover soup and keep warm over low heat while you prepare the toast

Step Three: Set an oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil, turning once, until well toasted on both sides, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat; do not turn off the broiler

Step Four: Arrange 4 large oven-safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice of toasted bread, 2 slices Gruyère cheese, and 1/4 of the Asiago cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one

Step Five: Cook under the hot broiler until bubbly and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal as it melts

Notes: You can substitute Italian bread for French bread, Swiss for Gruyère, and mozzarella for Asiago.

Guacamole

Created 3/10/2018

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of pepper
  • 1 large garlic clove, smashed with the side of a knife
  • 1/4 jalapeno, seeds removed
  • 3-4 cilantro stems, save the leafs
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 large avocado, cut in half, then cut into cubes
  • 1/4 lime, squeezed into mortar and pestle

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS

  • Roma tomato, chopped
  • Feta cheese, crumbled
  • Purple onion, chopped

Instructions

Step one:

Combine olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic clove, jalapeno, cilantro stems and onion powder into the mortar and pestle. Smash everything together still until a paste has developed.

Step two:

Add the avocado and gently mix in with the paste in mortar and pestle with a fork to keep a chunky guacamole. Use the mortar to combine for a smoother guacamole.