As promised, here’s the almost vegetarian French onion soup recipe!

I started off with this Basic Vegetable Stock, which I let cook on the stove for a few hours:

3 Carrots (chopped)
2 Celery stalks (chopped)
1/2 cup Green Onions (as I was saving the white ones for the soup itself)
1/3 cup Parsley
3/4 cup dry Sherry
1 Bay leaf
a bouquet (about 8 sprigs) of Thyme
1 Tbsp. Peppercorns
1 Tbsp. Butter
About three quarts of water

While that was bubbling away on the stove, I roasted in a large casserole dish at 450° F:

1 medium Eggplant (cubed)
a dozen Cherry Tomatoes (each cut in half; they don’t have to be cherry tomatoes, it’s just what I had on hand)
a dash of Smokey-flavored Salt
1 Tbsp. Olive oil (just enough to coat the vegetables)

When the roasting vegetables had started to get brownish, I removed them from the oven. I removed the carrots and other vegetables from the stock pot, and added the roasted vegetables to it. The stock had already been a nice tan-ish color, but once I added the roasted vegetables, it started to get really dark. I let it go for awhile (probably an hour) and then came back to taste it. It was at this point that I took a page from one of my favorite Roald Dahl books (and that’s quite a competition!), and started moving around my kitchen, opening up my cupboards and pulling things out at random to see what I had that could go into it. It was clearly lacking something.

I added some spices (Herbs de Provençe, Basil, and a few Cloves), a bit more salt, and then the thing which made it taste almost-perfect but which also makes it not totally vegetarian: about two tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce. It gave it a zing, a bite, and a lot of character, while the roasted vegetables gave it more substance than a regular vegetable broth generally has.

Full of hope that I’d created a good enough stock, I started in on the vegetables. First, I cooked the onions…

and then I cooked them some more…

And then finally started the actual assembly process: a slice of bread into the onion soup crock, then some of the onions, then the broth, and finally, about 3/4 of a cup of grated swiss cheese (I decided on a mixture of Gruyere, Emmentaler, Appenzeller) to completely cover the top. I baked it for just over 10 minutes at 450° F. Here’s the finished product, just prior to me digging in:

All in all, it was delicious, if I do say so myself. Was it beef stocky enough? Probably not. And I failed in my quest to make a totally vegetarian stock. On the other hand, it was extremely flavorful and added much to the soup that would not have been there if I’d gone with your average thin veggie stock. The butter gave the stock an oiliness and creaminess that was extremely appealing; the roasted eggplant made it seem meatier. It was an awful lot of work just to get to a bowl of onion soup, though, so I’d say if you’re going to bother going through all this, you should definitely make a large batch of stock. Luckily, I have quite a bit left, so all I really have to do is buy some more onions, and I’ll be in onion soup for a week or two!*

*(I also used the stock for a veggie-version of pho, which, I gotta tell you, was near-heavenly. Stock, rice noodles, bean sprouts, sliced green onions, mint, cilantro, basil, lime, and Sriracha sauce all came together for a very good cause.)

After reading a zillion different articles, recipes, and entire websites devoted to the idea that fondant is so hard to get right, I decided to just bite the bullet and do it. I didn’t put my fondant on a happily iced cake because I honestly didn’t have an occasion for cake-baking. I just wanted to play with fondant!

If I had had an occasion for fondant-making, it would have been for my mom’s recent birthday, or Mother’s Day. But she has been on a no-sugar diet. Still, the occasion made me think of possible ways to create a cake she’d love, and so I decided to go with her favorite fantastical animal: the dragon.

Ideally this little fella would be sitting on a pile of “gold” of some sort. I almost wanted to build some wacky construction of variously-sized mini, medi, regular, and humongous into a great big cupcake cake for him. If only I wasn’t so dreadfully terrified that any CCC invariably ends in wreckage.

There are tons of fondant recipes out there. Here’s the basic formula that I used, which is based on several different websites:

Fondant

3 Tbsp softened butter
3 Tbsp corn syrup
1/2 tsp anise extract (yep, I used anise. Next time I’ll probably go with almond for a pseudo-marzipan experience!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb sifted confectioner’s sugar
Food coloring as desired (for brighter colors, I’d say about 3-4 drops per 1/2 cup fondant).

1. Mix together the wet ingredients with a mixing paddle (not a whisk attachment!)
2. Slowly add sugar until it starts to look dry enough.
3. Keep mixing until it forms a lump around the mixing paddle. It shouldn’t be sticking to the sides of the bowl much.
4. Break off as much fondant as you need for each color. I rolled each ball of fondant up and then poked my finger into it to create a hole that went to the middle of the ball. Then I put the food coloring in the hole, closed it up, and kneaded it until it was a consistent color. (This didn’t take long.)

Have fun!

I feel like I owe Bea at La Tartine Gourmande a link, because I have started stealing, and thoroughly enjoying, recipes that she’s posted. I’ve been on a Foodie Blog kick lately, and hers is my favorite. Her recipes range from fairly easy to oh-so-very fancy, and the photography is delightfully tasty.

Last night I made the Bohemienne, which is quite a bit like Ratatouille, but simpler, and lighter. And, my goodness, it was tasty! I didn’t have rustic bread, but I did have a failed French bread experiment (it tasted fine, it just wasn’t quite so light and airy as French bread ought to be). So I diced and turned that into garlic croutons, and put them atop the Bohemienne. It was a very hearty thing to have on a cold snowy night, and I’m sure I’ll be enjoying the leftovers all week.

A little over a week ago, I made a dinner of her Fennel Salad (though I left out the beets, and used blueberries, which are in season, rather than cherries) and Sole Roulades, both of which were terrific. Next time, though, I’ll slice the fennel a bit thinner… and also check the fish with a thermometer instead of just assuming the inside was done just because the outside was.

Next on my to-cook list from Bea are the Potato Nests with Avocado and Smoked Salmon. And I can’t wait to see her cookbook.

With all these foodie blogs a-stewin’ in my brain, it’s fairly inevitable that I would start spewing out some recipes myself. Here’s one I tried out a few days ago:

Risotto with Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese
(Serves 4)

1 cup Arborio rice
2 cups vegetable broth
1 yellow onion, diced
1 cup sliced roasted red bell pepper (I used the kind that comes in a jar and can be found next to the pepperoncini at the market, but you could roast them yourself)
6 oz goat cheese, broken into chunks the size of cherries.
2 Tbs butter
3 Tbs raw pine nuts
3 Tbs olive oil

1. Start by combining the butter, rice, and onions in a large saucepan on high heat. Stir until the onions are cooked (but not browning) and the rice is looking a nice golden color.
2. Slowly add the broth, stirring as you go. Allow the rice to cook for about 20-25 minutes, but keep stirring so that it doesn’t stick. Once the rice is cooked, turn the heat to low.
3. Add the bell pepper, and stir so that it is warmed.
4. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan on high heat. Roast the pine nuts, making sure to keep them moving. This happens faster than you might think. As soon as they are looking a roasted-brown color, add them to the risotto.
5. Take the risotto off the heat, and add the goat cheese. Stir as little as possible. Enjoy!

I’m contemplating adding a bit of lemon juice, and perhaps some tarragon to this mix. We ate it alongside salmon with a mesquite rub and a great Pinot Noir, which went quite well with the pine nuts in the risotto.

I’m also mulling over some sort of pasta concoction involving Drunken Goat cheese and almond slivers. I’ll let you know how it goes.