French Onion Soup

(updated from archives)

The Ram is a restaurant and brewery better known for brewing their own beer and the ginormous 1 pound burgers but I will always remember their absolutely atrocious French onion soup. The last time I went was a few years ago, back when Steven and I were still college kids with gastronomic knowledge limited to fast, cheap, and/or microwaveable consumables. When our soup arrived we were faced with a whole, uncut, and still somewhat crunchy red onion (at least they took the peel and root off) covered in a meager bit of cheese sitting in pool of insipid brown liquid. At this point, Steven and I stared at this "interpretation" of French onion soup and we both whispered to each other, "Is it supposed to be like this?" We were confused as to what we should do with the thing. Was the onion some new and innovative centerpiece that we missed the memo on? Do we eat around the onion or do we eat the onion too?

We didn't know any better so in the end we didn't complain and finished the broth, ate the cheese, and ate about half the onion. We don't like to waste food but at the same time, we had reached our onion limit. Now I know better. How dare they call that lousy excuse of a soup "French onion soup"?! Where were the caramelized onions and cheese-topped toasted baguette slices? That soup was definitely not French onion soup. Anyway, the other day I made my own French onion soup with homemade beef stock and properly caramelized onions. As for The Ram? I'm tempted to go back, order that soup, and if served the same thing, I will give them a piece of my mind!

French Onion Soup
2 Tbsp butter
2 lbs of yellow onions
6 C homemade beef stock (I like the take the meat of the ribs and shred that into the soup)
1/4 C dry red wine
1 bouquet garni: 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 sprig of thyme, and 1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and ground black pepper
Baguette or French bread cut into 1/2 in to 3/4 in slices
3 oz. Gruyere or Comte, sliced coarsely grated

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt. Once the onions are starting to turn translucent, lower the heat to medium or medium low depending on your stove. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally until they are syrupy and an even brown. This should take about an hour depending on the heat you use. Thomas Keller likes to do this for 4 hours but I'm not known for my patience.

Stir in the beef stock, dry red wine, bouquet and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes. At the end, stir in the balsamic vinegar and ladle the soup into oven proof bowls.

Top each bowl with a slice of bread, either 2 baguette slices or 1 slice of french onion. Cover the bread with a layer of shredded cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

If you do not have an oven proof bowl:
1. Place the bread slices on a baking tray then cover with the cheese and bake/toast this in an oven or toaster oven until the cheese is melted and spotty brown. Then remove the slices of bread and float these in your bowls.

Duck Confit

For the longest time, I've had a food crush on duck confit. It was duck, and I love duck, and it was French, so it sounds all sexy. I knew it had to be delicious, even before tasting it. Sometimes, when you have high expectations, the real deal can let you down. But not duck confit. When I ordered it for the first time, every bite was as delicious as I thought it would be. It was love at first bite.

One of my most prized ingredients is my container of duck fat. I had been saving the fat from my previous roast ducks in hopes of collecting enough to make confit. While I love ordering confit de canard, I wanted to try to making it home, even if it was just once. My main concern was the cooking temperature. Duck legs (the breast will also work) are immersed in fat and slowly poached ideally at 180 - 190 deg F, no higher than 200 deg F, any higher and the meat will be stringy. The problem is that many home ovens can't go lower than 200 deg F, not to mention my home oven is a little unreliable. Then I had the great idea to use my slow cooker since the "low" setting should hold contents at around 170 - 180 deg F.

Instead of buying duck legs, I started with a whole duck since it was cheaper and I like having the giblets and bones. Aside from confiting the duck legs and breast, I made a duck soup with the wing tips, neck, and carcass, braised the wings, gizzard, and heart, and made a pate/rillette out of the liver. After cooking, I covered the confit in fat to ripen in the fridge for a week. Confit was first used as a preservation technique and the meat can be stored submerged in fat for many months, but I wasn't interested in keeping it for that long, I wanted to eat it. Finally, after waiting a week, it was finally ready to be eaten. I crisped up the skin in a cast iron skillet and then pan fried some Yukon Golds in more duck fat to accompany the confit. Potatoes cooked in olive oil is eh, cooked in butter is good, but cooked in duck fat is absolute perfection; the two are just meant to be together. The fat from the confit can be reused many times for confit until it gets too salty but then you can use a little bit to cook with (potatoes, fried rice, vegetables, etc.). I don't think I could ever bear to throw away duck fat.

Duck Confit/Confit de Canard
Adapted from Bouchon

4 whole duck legs (I used 2 duck legs and 2 breasts)
Enough fat to cover the legs, 4+ cups

Green salt
4 Tbsp kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp thyme leaves
2 Tbsp packed parsley leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns

Add the ingredients for the green salt in a small food processor or spice grinder. Process until well combined and bright green.

Trim off any excess fat or skin on the duck legs, rinse, and pat dry. Rub the duck with green salt, using about 1 tablespoon per leg or breast. Place the duck in a baking dish in one layer flesh side up. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours to cure.

After the cure, rinse the legs (or breast) and pat dry. Preheat the oven to 190 deg F. Place in an ovenproof pot with lid and cover the duck with rendered fat. Place the pot in the oven and cook for 10 hours. Alternatively, place the duck in a slow cooker insert and set the slow cooker to high for 1 hour then turn it down to low for 9 more hours. (A note about slow cookers: some newer slow cookers will heat contents past 180 def F even on the low setting, so be sure to check the temperature of the contents once in a while to make sure it's not above 200 deg F.) The duck is done with it is very tender and the meat will pull away from the bone on the drumstick and shrink towards the thigh. The fat should be clear, meaning that the meat is no longer releasing any juices.

Remove the pot from the oven or take out the insert from the slow cooker and cool the duck slowly to room temperature. When the duck has cooled, gently lift the legs out of the fat and transfer to a container, place them skin side down in the container. Cover the duck completely with fat and store in the fridge for a week. It can be stored for months but you must be extremely careful about not getting any meat juices in the container, as that will cause the meat to spoil.

Save the meat juices. It's intensely flavorful and gelatinous so it will add great body to sauces. It can also be mixed with shredded confit meat and fat to make a rillette. To separate the fat from the juices at the bottom, chill the fat and when it is firm enough, you can remove the fat with a spoon, taking care not to disturb the gelled meat juices at the bottom (the aspic).

To Serve
Bring the container of duck confit to room temperature to soften the fat. Preheat the oven to 375 deg F.

Gently lift the legs out of the fat, scrape off any excess fat. Heat a nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the duck skin side down and cook until the skin is golden brown and crisp, about 5 - 6 minutes. Transfer the legs to a baking pan, skin side up, and bake for an additional 8 minute to heat them through.

Serve with the traditional side dish of pomme salardaise (potatoes pan fried in duck fat) or a green salad.

Duck Rillette
This spread is a combination pate and rillette because it has both a duck liver that came with my duck and shredded confited duck breast. There's really no recipe for this since it was just something I threw together, a duck liver, some shredded duck confit, some aspic (gelatin meat juices) from the confit, and duck fat all mixed together. It was delicious spread on baguette slices with a strong Dijon mustard (like Maille) and cornichons. Soak the duck liver in some milk for a few hours before cooking (to draw out the blood), then cook it in some duck fat until it is just pink on the inside. Puree the liver with duck fat and aspic, then mix in shredded confit meat. Pour a thin layer of melted duck fat on top to seal.


How to Render Fat
Cut the skin and large pieces of fat into small 1/2 inch pieces. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer then turn down to the lowest heat to slowly melt the fat. Cook until all the water is evaporated and the fat is clear and golden. Don't boil the fat or it will overheat and begin to break down and will be unusable. Strain the fat and reserve the pieces of skin and fat to make cracklings if you wish (bake in the oven at 250 deg F until they are crisp).

French Bread

Did I ever mention that I like to procrastinate? I would be a professional procrastinator if I could but I'm sure the pay is pretty crappy. I figured I would have plenty of opportunities to do the Daring Baker challenge but before I knew it, it’s the last week of February! I'll just blame the fact that February is a super short month. The only day I had time to do the challenge was today, which is technically posting day. Eek! Down to the wire here!


As always, we have lovely hostesses who select our secret recipe and this month, the wonderful duo Mary aka Breadchick, writer of The Sour Dough, and Sara of I Like to Cook chose something that I’ve always wanted to make, French bread! And not just any French bread, Julia Child’s French bread, the bread she devoted 18 pages to in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2. If you’ve read her memoir, My Life in France, you will know just how much of Julia loved to bake and how much time and effort she devoted to that one recipe. She made boulangerie style French bread accessible for the home cook!

The day started off beautifully, it was bright and sunny and my kitchen was 68 degrees, perfect dough rising conditions. After a donut and tea for breakfast, I rolled up my sleeves to tackle the dough making. Nothing like feeling the warm morning sun hit your face and hearing the *slap slap slap* of bread dough hitting the side of the KitchenAid bowl. After the machine did most of the work, I kneaded for a few minutes by hand to feel the dough, making sure to give it a good poke to test its springiness. Then back into the bowl, covered with a towel, for a long 5 hour rise. Who wouldn’t like a warm 5 hour long nap?

Then after the dough tripled in size, I gently shaped it for the second rise of 2 hours. It was beautiful after the second rise. The top was smooth and domed and it was absolutely gorgeous. After reading the instruction on how to form a batard, I was afraid I would mess up because it sounded pretty complicated so I decide to just make one large loaf. Then I gently coaxed the dough out of the bowl again and shaped it into a large loaf. It made some funny hissing noises as some of the gas bubbles popped, which made me giggle. Then after shaping the dough into the loaf, I gently placed it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for the final nap. It was like my little bread baby, so cute! Then under covers again for the final 2 hour rise.

Finally, I preheated my stone, slashed the loaf with a razor blade, brushed water on the outside, and slid it into the oven.


The Results:
After 25 minutes, I checked the internal temperature of the bread with my Thermapen and it was only 160 degrees F. Weird! Either my brand new Thermapen is off or my oven is off. I kept the loaf in the oven for another 5 minutes and took it out because I was afraid of overbaking.

The crust was a beautiful golden brown and shatteringly crisp, it was just gorgeous. Unfortunately, my slashes didn’t serve their purpose, I thought they were deep enough but on the finished loaf, they looked very superficial and they didn’t allow the steam to escape, instead the bread split open near the bottom. Am I suppose to slash a little deeper or should I not have brushed water over them? After cooling for 2 hours, I sliced into it and I was a little disappointed. The crumb was too dense and a little chewy/gummy. Where did I go wrong? I was really careful when I handled the dough but maybe I didn’t let it rise enough the third time. Maybe I should have baked it longer since the crumb was a little gummy, is that because the bread is underbaked and the interior is still too moist? It tasted really good but it was a little yeasty. Did I do something wrong? What should I do differently next time?

All in all, I still give myself a pat on the back for making a pretty decent loaf of French bread. I wish the interior could have been a little airier and fluffier but I’m still happy with how it turned out. I’m really proud of the crust because I’ve never been able to get bread to look that good. The crust was my favorite part, it was so thin and crispy. Yum! Now I can cross French bread off my list but I know this is a recipe I will repeat over and over until I can get it just right.

As for the recipe? Head on over to Mary’s blog for the whole shebang, all 18 pages. Thank you so much Mary and Sara for choosing this wonderful recipe and for taking the time to type up the whole thing! The side notes you gals added were especially helpful!

Recipe here

The recipe is long and the process takes almost all day. I started at around 10 in the morning and finished at 6 or so?

I already ate half my loaf and I bet I’ll finish the other half tomorrow. Here are some idea’s for any leftover bread you may have.

Cover the inside with roasted garlic and butter for roasted garlic bread.

Make sandwiches:
Ham and Butter
Salami, Baby Spinach, and Cream Cheese
Pate and Cornichon

Stale French bread is wonderful on top of French Onion Soup

Make sure to see all the beautiful breads everyone made by heading over to the Daring Baker Blogroll

French Pear and Almond Tart

When flipping through my copy of Baking, I discovered this recipe for a very French, very classic, pear and almond cream tart. Upon reading the recipe, I was just as surprised as Dorie was to learn that canned pears most often used for these tarts (*gasp*). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against canned pears (Steven's mom makes the best ones); it just goes to show that delicious and elegant desserts can be made with simple and convenient ingredients. The beauty of this recipe is it's flexibility - it can be made with canned pears, poached pears, or fresh pears. I chose to poach some perfectly firm but ripe Bartlett pears. I'm a sucker for almond flavoring so I added a little almond extract to the almond cream because mmm... mmm... I love the smell of almond extract *takes one last whiff*.

Notes:
- Make sure your pears are small enough to fit in your tart pan. If your tart pan is 9 inches, your pears should be no larger than 4 inches tall. My pears were too large and I could only fit 4 pear halves on my tart, (actually I probably could have fit 5 halves when thinking about it in retrospect).
- A fun little article written by Dorie Greenspan: When French Women Bake.

French Pear and Almond Cream Tart
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking

6 canned pear halves or 3 small, firm but ripe pears, such as Bartlett or Anjou

Optional Poaching Liquid
3 C water
3/4 C sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Frangipane/Almond Cream
3/4 stick/6 Tbsp unsalted room temperature butter
2/3 C sugar
3/4 C ground blanched almonds
2 tsp AP flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

1 9 inch tart shell partially baked and cooled (I used an 8 inch)

Tart baking instructions:
Bake the crust at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes lined with foil and weighted down with pie weights, beans, or pennies, then remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the tart pan, keeping the crust in the pan, and cool the crust until it is room temperature.

Optional Poaching Step:
Combine all the ingredients for the poaching liquid in a saucepan, that is just large enough to hold the pears, and bring the liquid to a boil. Meanwhile peel the pears but leave them whole.

Add the pears to the boiling syrup and lower the heat to a simmer. Poach the pears until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes.

Cool the pears to room temperature in the syrup. Reserve about 3/4 C of the liquid. You can discard the remaining syrup or save it, for up to a week, to poach more pears. I like to boil it down to a thick syrup and add it to tea.

In a bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, flour, and cornstarch. Process the butter with the sugar in the food processor then add the dry ingredients and process until smooth. Then add the extracts and egg and blend until smooth. The cream can also be made with a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer. The almond cream can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 2 days or you can freeze it.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

If you are using fresh unpoached pears, peel and core them. Rub them with fresh lemon juice and then pat them dry. If you are using canned pears, pat them dry.

If you are using poached pears, cut them in half and core them, and pat dry.

Slice each pear half crosswise into thin slices.

Spread the almond cream evenly in the tart crust. Lift the sliced pear half with a spatula, gently press down on it to fan it out, and lay it on the almond cream. The skinny part of the pear should face in. Repeat with the other 5 pear halves. The 6 pear halves will form spokes. Optional: decorate the tart with some almond slices.

Bake the tart for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream is puffy and brown. After baking let it cool until it is warm or room temperature to serve.

Meanwhile, simmer the pear syrup until it has thickened into a glaze. Reserve this to brush on the tart before serving.

Pate and Cornichon Sandwich

Back when Steven and I were both at the UW, we would frequent a little French bakery a few minutes from campus. Le Fournil not only had delicious croissants, too-gorgeous-to-be-edible pastries, freshly baked bread, but they also made some pretty amazing sandwiches. It was there that I first experienced the heavenly combination of a ham and butter sandwich but it can't top my favorite, their pate and cornichon sandwich. The flavors of the rich pate, intensely sour cornichons, and just a hint of Dijon mustard to tickle your nose marry perfectly on a crusty baguette, creating a perfect sandwich.

I always save the giblets after I roast chickens. The necks are added to stocks. The heart and gizzards are "red cooked." Last but not least, the livers are reserved for chicken liver pate. I'm not sure what kind of pate the bakery uses but I attempted to recreate my favorite sandwich at home with chicken liver pate. With so many chicken liver pate recipes out there, I adapted a recipe by Julia Child, who is my resource for all things French.

Chicken Liver Pate
Adapted from Julia Child

1/2 lb chicken livers, trimmed of any fat or gristle
1 C milk
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 C chicken broth
1 stick butter (and 1 additional Tbsp if sealing the pate)
1 Tbsp brandy or Cognac
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper
1 sprig of thyme, leaves roughly chopped

After washing and trimming the livers, soak them in milk for 4 hours to overnight. After soaking, drain the livers and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, salt, and pepper. Once the onions start to soften and develop some color along the edges, add the chopped thyme leaves, chicken livers, and chicken broth. Cover and simmer until the livers are fully cooked, about 12 minutes.

Transfer the entire contents of the saucepan to a food processor. Cut the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter into pats. Add the butter and liquor to the food processor and puree until smooth.

Optional step before chilling: sealing the pate
Melt a tablespoon of butter and pour it over the top of the pate.

Transfer the contents to ramekins, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until set, at least 4 hours.

Pate will taste better after a night in the fridge as the flavors develop. A sealed pate will keep up to a week and it can also be frozen.

Pate and Cornichon Sandwich

A section of crusty baguette, cut in half
Strong dijon mustard
Cornichons, sliced in half lengthwise
Pate

Add a thin layer of dijon to the top half of the baguette. On the bottom half spread a generous layer of pate and add the cornichon halves on top of the pate. Enjoy!

Cherry Clafouti

Remember when I said the best thing about living in the Pacific Northwest was the salmon? Well it's a tie between the salmon and the cherries. Washington state is the top cherry grower, producing about 50% of the nation's supply. Oh how I love the cherries; I look forward to them every summer. A few years ago my dad and I bought a bag of the biggest Bing cherries I'd ever seen, they were the size of ping pong balls I want to say (okay maybe a tiny bit smaller than ping pong balls but they were big!), and were soooo sweet. Every summer since then we would talk about those cherries and how we regret only buying one bag. "Hey remember those cherries we got a few years ago?" "Yeah... *wistful sigh*" I have yet to find cherries that big again. Anyways, now that we're in the middle of cherry season, which thankfully is very long (from early June to mid August), Bettina and I pretty much eat, sleep, and breathe cherries. Seriously we sometimes go through about a pound a day, each! The ones that escaped our cherry pillage ended up in clafoutis. Though in the end, I prefer my cherries uncooked but this was a classic French dessert that I wanted to try.

The clafouti is a custard-like dessert that originated in the province of Limousin in central France. Traditionally it's baked with whole, unpitted cherries because the heat releases more complex fruity and almondy notes from the pit. This is Julia Child's recipe (I mean how can you go wrong with a recipe from Julia Child?) with some minor changes. I added some almond extract to enhance the natural almondiness. The main flavor component of cherries comes from benzaldehyde, which is the same chemical as imitation almond extract (okay no more chemistry I promise). The cherries were also very sweet so I cut the sugar amount in half. You can serve clafoutis as dessert or eat them the next morning as breakfast, like Helen's grandfather.



Cherry Clafouti
Adapted from Julia Child
serves 6-8

1 1/4 cups milk, whole milk preferably
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
2 - 3 C cherries (unpitted)
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Beat the eggs, sugar, salt, and extracts, then add the milk, and finally whisk in the flour. Add some cherries to individual ramekins*, don't crowd them too much, leave a little room for the batter. Depending on the size and height of your ramekins it can make about 5 - 8 servings.

Pour the batter over the cherries, bake the clafoutis until it looks golden brown, somewhat puffy, and the center is set, about 20 - 30 minutes.

Serve warm with powdered sugar dusted on top.

*The ramekins I used ended up being a bit too small, I baked 2 in these oval fluted creme brulee ramekins and 4 in round ramekins with taller sides.

Links:
Helen's Mirabelle Clafoutis
Bea's Chocolate and Cherry Clafoutis (a twist on the Black Forest cake)
Dorie Greenspan's Cherry Clafoutis adapted by Anita