After I graduated from high school, I deferred my acceptance to college and took a sabbatical year.  What does a budding epicure do with a year of freedom?  Go to Paris, of course!  To be truthful, at that time in my life I had hardly caught the culinary bug.  I went to Paris to become a photographer, and ended up falling in love with art history.  Yet inevitably, the city’s gastronomical powers took hold of me and I was smitten – with macarons, with cassoulet, with steak frites and, most of all, with French Onion Soup.

Perhaps not as glamorous as oysters at Le Dome or duck at Tour d’Argent (which I’ve never done, by the way, but it’s on my list), French onion soup is omnipresent at the adorable corner bistros and thus a reliable friend during the long and rainy Parisian winter.  Not to mention the fact that it is just so darn delicious.  The heady smell of a winey, beefy broth is intertwined with the savory aromas of browning Swiss cheese as you cup your hands around the lions-head porcelain bowl at your favorite neighborhood stop.

My favorite onion soup story comes from my second lengthy stay in Paris, during my Junior year of college.  RJ came to visit me – his first trip abroad – and we found out we shared a love of the soup!  When we looked for places to eat lunch or dinner, I always checked the menu for onion soup since it was one thing I knew would not offend his delicate palate, and no hidden vegetables would appear to ruin his meal!  One evening, we stopped into “Le Christine” – a tiny restaurant in the Latin Quarter.  RJ predictably ordered the Soupe a L’Oignon.  When my first course arrived, RJ was approached by the host.  In his hand was the handle of a large kettle.  Placed before RJ was a plate of handmade croutons and freshly grated gruyere.  The host ladled the soup from the kettle into RJ’s bowl, and RJ garnished his own soup.  It was quite a presentation, and since then RJ has loved Paris, and requests French onion soup as soon as winter sets in.

Soupe a L’Oignon (French Onion Soup), adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 1/2 lbs. or about 5 c. of thinly sliced yellow onions
3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
3 Tbs. flour
2 quarts boiling brown stock, canned beef bouillon or 1 quart of boiling water and 1 quart stock or bouillon
1/2 c. dry white wine or dry white vermouth
salt and pepper to taste
12 to 16 slices of French bread cut 3/4 to 1 inch thick
olive oil or beef drippings
1 cut clove of garlic
3 Tbs. cognac
1 to 2 c. grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.  In one pot, keep the stock/broth/bouillon hot.  In another, cook the onions in the butter and oil over medium-low heat, covered, for 15 minutes.  Uncover, raise heat to moderate, and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes stirring frequently, until the onions have turned an even, deep golden brown. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.

Off heat, blend in the boiling liquid. Add the wine, and season to taste. Simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 minutes or more, skimming occasionally. Correct seasoning. Set aside uncovered until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, place the bread in one layer in a roasting pan and bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about half an hour, until it is thoroughly dried out and lightly browned. Halfway through the baking, each side may be basted with a teaspoon of olive oil or beef drippings. After baking, each piece may be rubbed with cut garlic.

Preheat the oven’s broiler and move an oven rack to the highest it can go while still fitting your soup bowls.
Reheat soup to a simmer. Just before serving, stir in the cognac. Pour the soup into an oven-proof tureen or individual soup bowls. Float the rounds of toast on top of the soup, and spread the grated cheese over it [I had my first bowl made this way, but found that most of the cheese fell into the soup. My second bowl, I cut thick slices of gruyere and lay them over the toast round, which gave the top of the soup a nice thick cheese topping.] Broil for 3-7 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly and beginning to brown around the edges.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I hope that this post finds you well, and FULL!  This Thursday’s Barefoot Bloggers recipe is pretty simple (more so if you have leftover chicken from this recipe) – a twist on a classic.  Start with your average, basic chicken soup with celery, carrots and onions, but add tomatoes and jalapenos for kick.  Those were nice additions, I thought, but the true revelation of the recipe was the tortillas.  Having never made a mexican soup before, I was skeptical about putting strips of corn tortillas into the pot.  Were they meant to act as thick Mexican-style noodles?  What would they taste like in my mouth?  I was imagining the texture of thick, soggy bread strips and I almost gagged.

To my surprise, the effect of adding the corn tortilla strips is to thicken the soup in a most delightful way.  The strips disolve into the broth, giving it a stew-like texture that was unexpected and quite pleasing.  When I brought this soup into the lunchroom the next afternoon, my colleagues ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the smell and the look of it.  And I didn’t even go all out with avocado garnish!  I imagine that if you are left with several pounds of cooked turkey after today, as I inevitably will be, you could easily use it to make this soup.  And while everyone else will be eating their third day of turkey with cranberry sauce, or their twelfth bowl of turkey noodle soup, you will be the envy of the Thanksgiving-leftover-lunchroom.  I would bet that some black beans in this soup would probably make you forget you were even eating leftovers.  Enjoy!

Mexican Chicken Soup, from Barefoot Contessa at Home

2 split (1 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 c. chopped onions (1 onions)
1/2 c. chopped celery (1 stalks)
1 c. chopped carrots (2 carrots)
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/4 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 of a 28-ounce can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed*
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander seed
2-3 Tbs.chopped fresh cilantro leaves, optional
3 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas

For serving: sliced avocado, sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1 1/2 Tbs. of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 1/2 tsp. salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1/2 tsp. pepper, and the cilantro, if using. Cut the tortillas in 1/2, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste. Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

* I halved this recipe, so I only used 1/2 a can of whole tomatoes.  The other half I used for a quick pasta sauce the next night – very easy.  Just make sure you don’t store the unused tomatoes in the can.  I think that it gives them a weird flavor.