Five-Hour French Onion Soup

Good soups are an investment. If you want quality, if you want unctuousness, you have to be patient.

Very patient.

5-hours patient.

Now, patience is rarely a strong point of mine. If eating alone, I don't want preparations to take any longer than 15 minutes. Maximum.

But when cooking for others (and finding myself with five hours to spare, thanks to the glories of post-term freedom), time has no meaning. The longer something takes, the better.

So when I found a recipe for french onion soup that promised 5 magical hours of cooking time, I was sold.

And, let me assure you, this soup is worth it.

Most of the preparation comes from making the oxtail stock (itself a 3-hour affair), but I cannot emphasize enough that it is worth it. There is a richness to oxtails that just dissolves into liquid form after the 2 hour mark. Combine that with your base standards of stock-making (carrots, bay leaves, thyme, etc.), you have something that is almost spiritual in taste.

When I wanted to eat *just* the stock, I knew I made the right decision.

Couple that with a couple hours of melted caramelized onions, mixed with port? Add bread AND cheese on top of it?

Heaven. Soupy heaven.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 pounds oxtail or beef shoulder, cut into 1- or 2-inch pieces

Salt

8 medium onions

My port of choice. Tesco's finest.

4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

4 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 bay leaves

4 thyme sprigs

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

Black pepper

1 cup port wine (see picture)

Lemon juice, to taste, optional

6 ounces baguette loaf, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 garlic cloves, halved

8 ounces Gruyère cheese

Some fine lookin' oxtails

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the oxtail (or beef shoulder) in a single layer (work in batches, if necessary to avoid crowding the pan), and sear until the undersides are brown (do not turn). Season generously with salt and transfer to a plate.

2. Coarsely chop two of the onions; add to the pot, along with the celery, carrots, bay leaves and thyme. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Return the beef to the pot. Pour in 8 cups water. Simmer mixture gently until the meat is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

3. Transfer beef to a bowl to cool for another use (see my entry on Polenta with Oxtails and Red Wine Sauce). Strain liquid into a bowl over a fine-mesh sieve; press gently on the solids with the back of a spatula to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the solids; you should have about 8 cups broth (add water if necessary to equal 8 cups).

4. Halve the remaining 6 onions through the root end, then peel and thinly slice them lengthwise. Melt the butter in the bottom of the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, tossing occasionally, until deep golden-brown and caramelized, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Pour in the port and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for 3 minutes. Pour in the broth and simmer mixture over low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and lemon juice, if desired. (For a smaller group, you could refrigerate some of the soup and reheat it later.)

The glorious gooey onions after 45 minutes.

5. While the broth simmers, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast until golden, about 12 minutes. Rub the garlic halves over the surface of the bread.

6. Heat the broiler and arrange a rack 4 to 6 inches from the flame. Using a cheese slicer, thinly slice 3 ounces of Gruyère. Coarsely grate the remaining cheese. Float the broiled bread over the surface of the hot soup. Layer the cheese slices over the bread; scatter the grated cheese over it. Transfer the Dutch oven to the oven and broil until cheese is golden and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes (watch to see that it does not burn).

7. To serve, use kitchen shears or scissors to cut the bread and cheese into portions. Ladle soup, bread and cheese into individual bowls.

Olive and Rosemary Fougasse

Fougasse, that bizzarre French version of Italian focaccia, remains the pinnacle of bread for me. Discovered by accident but loved for years, the soft pull-apart quality of fougasse can't be beat. Years ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for the bread by none other than Raymond Blanc, featured in one of his "inept but lovable" cooking programs on the BBC. His recipe reflects the kind of chef he is: it took hours and required 8 ingredients that no one would normally have in their kitchen (rye flour, anyone?). But, because of my love, I hunted down each and every last ingredient, confident that the recipe would produce absolute marvels. And, to be fair, it did. Sure, it took 14 hours to make (get that starter going the day before!), but the rewards were more than ample. Delicious, delicious bread.

But the energy required in making the bread put me off the prospect of repeating it for years. It was only last week that I decided to brush off the old recipe and give it another whirl. Yet, in the intervening years, I had forgotten just how rare some of the ingredients were. When a morning dash to the local Tesco yielded no rye flour, I was stuck up the proverbial creek.

And that's when Epicurious came to my rescue. With only minimal effort, I was able to find a fougasse recipe that took far less time to prepare (ok, fine, it still takes 4 and some hours, but that's practically fast food compared to the Raymond Blanc recipe). Sure, I was taking a risk (I was supposed to serve the bread at a dinner party that night), but fortune favors the bold, so I went with it, adding in my favorite ingredient combination of rosemary and olives to the basic recipe.

And who would have thought? The recipe came out perfectly. Wonderfully soft and doughy, but with enough firmness to the crust, I was in fougasse heaven. Of course, by that point, I had invested in the rye flour just so I could have some on hand, in case the day ever came that I needed Raymond's recipe again. But this recipe was so delicious, I may never see the need. Sorry, Raymond.

Yield: Makes 2 loaves
Active Time: 45 min
Total Time: 4 1/2 hr

Ingredients

For starter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105–115°F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For dough
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
1 jar of pitted black olives, diced
2/3 cup water
3 tbsp rosemary, chopped
1/3 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil (preferably French) plus 1 tablespoon for brushing
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1 1/2 teaspoons flaky or coarse sea salt

Method
Make starter:

Stir together sugar and warm water in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Whisk flour into yeast mixture until combined well. Let starter rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, 30 minutes.

Risen dough, after 1 1/2 hours

Make dough:

Add sugar, salt, 3/4 of the olives, water, 3/4 of the rosemary, 1/3 cup oil, and 11/4 cups flour to starter and beat with a wooden spoon (or, is using a mixer, at medium speed) until smooth. Mix in remaining 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, sprinkling surface lightly with flour if dough is very sticky, until smooth and elastic (dough will remain slightly sticky), 8 to 10 minutes. Form dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl, turning dough to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Pat out each half into an oval (about 12 inches long and 1/4 inch thick), then transfer to 2 lightly oiled large baking sheets.

Using a very sharp knife or a pastry scraper, make a cut down center of each oval "leaf," cutting all the way through to baking sheet and leaving a 1-inch border on each end of cut. Make 3 shorter diagonal cuts on each side of original cut, leaving a 1-inch border on each end of cuts, to create the look of leaf veins (do not connect cuts). Gently pull apart cuts about 1 1/2 inches with your fingers. Let dough stand, uncovered, until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.

Brush loaves with remaining tablespoon oil and sprinkle with sea salt along with the rest of the olives and rosemary. Bake, switching position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes total. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Crisp Potato Cake (Galette de Pomme de Terre)

My household suffers from an abundance of potatoes. Thanks to the glorious veg box, we get a bag of "spuds" every week. Now, we try and get our starches in when we can, but we've simply gotten lamentably behind and now we have a pile of unused and unloved spuds piled high on our kitchen counter.

This called for immediate action.

Thus: the galette (courtesy of the NY Times). Which seems to be nothing more than France's answer to a plethora of potatoes. And in true French style: you slice them and arrange them prettily in a saucepan. Oh, and add heaps of butter.

Unsurprisingly then, this recipe was delicious and an amazingly easy way to use up potatoes quickly. And  how pretty! You get to invoke your hidden Michelin starred self and crow about the joys of neat spiralled spuds. And you get to pull out the old mandoline slicer and strive not to cut your fingers off with it. It's a win, win.

Ingredients

2 pounds (about 3 medium) potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly
1 tablespoon olive oil, or as needed
Freshly ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Salt
Fresh thyme leaves for garnish (optional).

Method

1. Pat potatoes dry if very starchy or moist. In a sauté pan large enough to fit potato slices in just two layers, spread 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with nutmeg and pepper to taste. Starting in center, arrange potato slices in a closely overlapping, attractive spiral. When pan is filled, repeat to make a second layer.

2. Place pan over medium heat and cover. Slowly cook potatoes until well browned on underside, about 15 minutes, occasionally shaking pan gently to avoid sticking. Wipe inside of lid as needed to keep it dry.

3. Press potatoes down with a flat spatula and remove from heat. Place a larger platter over pan and flip it upside down, transferring potatoes to the platter. Check pan to make sure it is clean and has enough oil to keep potatoes from sticking.

4. Slide galette, raw side down, back into pan, and return to medium heat. Cover and cook until well browned, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a persillade by combining parsley and garlic in a small bowl. To serve, slide galette onto a serving platter, season to taste with salt, and garnish with persillade or thyme.

Yield: 4 servings.

Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Right, another quiche recipe. Hey, I was on a pastry roll if you know what I mean (no pun intended). Anyway, this presented a nice change for the cheesey gorgonzola quiche. A little more savory and earthy, but just as delicious. I recommend using as many kinds of mushrooms as you can find (or want) for this one. I used a combination of white and shitake mushrooms, but I think you'll get even more flavor out of this deceptively simple dish.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 shallots, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb mushrooms (at least), trimmed, wiped clean, and cut into 1/4 inch slipes
2 tbsp. minced thyme (fresh or dry)
1 9- 9 1/2 inch tart shell made from Tart Dough, partially baked and cooled
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 scallions, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. finely grated Gruyere cheese

Method
(Tart Dough should already be made and partially baked)
Melt the butter in a large skilled, preferably one that's nonstick. Toss in the shallots, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season again with salt and pepper, turn the heat up to high, and cook, stirring, until they are softened and browned, 5 to 8 minutes. The mushrooms will first sop up all the liquid in the pan, then they'll exude it, then it will disappear. Sprinkle the mushrooms with 1 tbsp of thyme and cook for 30 seconds more, then turn the mushrooms into a bowl to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Center a rack in the over and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the crust on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of thyme over the bottom of the crust. Spoon over the mushrooms, avoiding any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl. Lightly beat the cream and eggs just until well blended, season with salt and pepper, and pour over the mushrooms. Top the custard evenly with the sliced scallions and grated cheese.

Carefully slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the custard is uniformly puffed (wait for center to puff), lightly golden, and set (mine took over 40 minutes). Transfer the quiche to a rack, remove the sides of the pan, and cool the quiche until it's only just warm or until it reaches room temperature before serving.

Gorgonzola Apple Quiche + Tart Dough

Quiche. Strikingy elegant (nothing says class like pastry dough) and yet amazingly humble. Quiches are ubiquitous now on lunch menus both in the States and in England. They can be served warm or cold, alone or with a salad, and, really, (in my opinion) are appropriate at any part of the day. Tea time? Quiche! Breakfast? Quiche!

Anyway, so you now understand my abiding love of this French dish, but it was only recently that I tried making one (or rather two) for myself. Despite my ongoing love of French pastry, I have a healthy ongoing fear of it. It seems so delicate. Any one of a thousand things can go wrong with it. It also takes patience. Almost every pastry dough will require at least a few hours of fridge time. And, honestly, most of the time, I don't have the patience for it. Not when there's quiche on every corner now.

But, on a whim, and thanks to the Around My French Table cookbook, I decided it was time to try my hand at it. The quiche dough was, as predicted, tricky to figure out. I made two batches. The first came out beautifully. The second was a crumby mess. Even after some time in the fridge, it didn't resemble the moist yet delicate dough that I was hoping for. In a moment of panic, I decided to use cold tap water to get the crust to hold together. This was sacrilege, I know. But, to be fair, after I baked it, you couldn't tell the difference. And, to me, that's all that matters.

Getting off the subject of dough, I will also say that, while this recipe is delicious, go crazy with the blue cheese/gorgonzola. Greenspan calls for 2 ounces of the stuff. Bah! That's barely a hint of the stuff. I put in twice the amount and still thought it needed more blue cheese flavor. But, of course, use your own judgment on this one. 

Note: I've included the basic "Tart Dough" that Greenspan uses for her quiches below. It should work on most savory pastry dishes and the recipe makes enough dough for 1 9 - 9 1/2 inch tart shell. 

Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche

Ingredients
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 9 - 9 1/2 inch tart shell made from Tart Dough recipe (see below), partially baked and cooled
1 apple (tart-sweet works best, such as Empire or Gala), peeled, cored, and cut into small dice
2 ounces Gorgonzola dolce (I used 4 ounces or more. Go crazy with the cheese!)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs

Method
Center a rach in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a small skillet over low heat and toss in with the onion. Season the onion lightly with salt and white pepper and cook until it is very soft but not at all colored, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the tart shell on the lined baking sheet. Spread the onion, wiht whatever buttern remains in the pan, evenly over the bottom of the crust. Scatter the apple over the onion. Cut the Gorgonzola into small cubes and scatter it over the onion and apple. Beat the cream and eggs together until well blended, season with salt and white pepper, and pour into the tart shell.

Gently slide the baking sheet into the over and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the filling is uniformly puffed (wait for the center to puff), browned, and set (mine took at least 45 minutes). Transfer the quiche to a cooling crack and allow it to cool and gather itself for 5 minutes or so.

Carefully remove the sides of the pan and slide the quiche onto a platter if you want to serve it hot, or onto a rack if you want to cool it. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Serving: You can keep the quiche lightly covered on the counter for a few hours if you're going to serve it at room temperature. If you want to keep it overnight, wrap it well and store it in the refrigerator. It's best to bring it to room temperature or t warm it briefly in a moderate oven before serving.

Tart Dough
Makes 1 9- 9 1/2-inch tart shell

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. (3/4 US stick) very cold (or frozen, see note) unsalted butter, cut into bits
1  large egg
1 tsp. ice water

Note on butter: A friend of mine gave me great advice when it comes to incorporating butter into dough. Instead of spending time cutting it into bits, put the butter in the freezer for a few hours and then use the grater on it. The butter will shave into nice small, manageable pieces that serve the exact same purpose as cutting it up by hand.

Method
To make the dough in a food processor: Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the processor and whir a few times to blend. Scatter the bits of butter over the flour and pulse several times, until the butter is coarsely mixed into the flour. Beat the egg with ice water and pout it into the bowl in 3 additions, whirring after each one (Don't overdo it- the dough shouldn't form a ball or ride on the blade). You'll have a moist malleable dough that will hold together when pinched. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, father it into a ball and flatten it into a disk.

To make the dough by hand: Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Drop in the bits of butter and, using your hands or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until it's evenly distributed. You'll have large and small butter bits, and that's fine; uniformity isn't a virtue here. Beat the egg and water together, drizzle over the dough and, using a fork, toss the dough until it is evenly moistened. Reach into the bowl and, using your fingertips, mix and knead the dough until it comes together. Turn it out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and flatten into a disk.

Chill the dough for at least 3 hours (but it can be refrigerated up to 5 days).
When you're ready to make the tart shell, butter a 9 - 9 1/2 inch tart pan with a removeable bottom (butter it even if it is nonstick).

To roll out the dough:
Either between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap, or on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 12 inches in diameter and about 1/4 inches thick.

Transfer dough to tart pan, easing it into the pan without stretching it. Press the dough against the bottom and up the sides of the pan. If you'd like to reinforce the sies of the crust, you can fold some of the excess dough over, so that you have a doubl thickness around the sides. Using the back of a table knife, trim the dough even with the top of the pan. Prick the base of the crust in several places with a fork.

Chill, or freeze, the dough for at least 1 hour before baking.

To partially bake the crust: Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Press a piece of buttered foil (or use nonstick foil) against the crust's surface. If you'd like, you can fill the covered crust with rice or dried beans (or special baking beads if you have them) to keep the dough flat, but this isn't really necessary if the crust is well chilled. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the tart pan on the sheet.

Bake the crust for 20 minutes in the center of the oven, then carefully remove the foil (with rice or beans). Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes, or until it is lightly golden. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow the crust to cool before you fill it.