French Onion Soup

I like French onion soup a lot.  When it’s good, it is both sweet and savory with complex flavors and you get all those different textures.  But it takes a long time to make.  I use a version of the Cook’s Illustrated recipe that was published in the January 2008 issue.

1. Peel and slice 4 lbs of onions.  Cut them about ¼ in thick along the lines of longitude.  If you cut them the other way they will disintegrate.
2. Put them in a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray and 3T of unsalted butter (Do I really need to specify unsalted?  Always get unsalted butter!)
3. Cover and put in a 400F oven for 1 hour
4. Stir, and put cover slightly ajar and cook for another 90 minutes
5. Put on cooktop, stir and boild off the liquid.
6. After about 15 minutes, let them sit so the bottom browns deeply – about 8 minutes
7. Add ¼ cup water and scrape the fond off of the bottom of the pot.
8. Let it sit for another 8 and scrape again.  Do this a couple more times.
9. Add ½ cup sherry, and simmer it away.
10. Scrape it off again and add:
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups of beed stock
• 6 sprigs thyme & a bay leaf ties up together.
11. Simmer for 30 minutes then remove the herbs
12. Put in oven-proof bowls, top with toasted bread and Gruyere cheese.
13. Broil for 5-6 minutes, or until it looks right
14. Enjoy with a nice wine

I use an enameled Dutch oven.  I have two from Le Cruset, a big one and a medium one, and use the big one for this dish.  I also have a cast iron Dutchy, but I don’t use that anymore.  

Stock

I usually make chicken stock twice a year.  It's a putzy thing to make and takes about 8 hours, start to finish.  But it's delicious and makes everything taste better (see Rule #3).  We always have cartons of store-bought stock in the pantry and use it regularly, but the home made stuff is much better.


It's simple and pretty forgiving:

1. Chop up vegetables.  You can use all sorts, but start with the classic mirepoix, carrots, onions, and celery.  You can add leeks, chives, garlicscapes, bell peppers, fresh herbs, etc.  It's a good way to use up old vegetables.
2. Roast chicken parts.  Or not.  I do, but you don't need to.  I save parts (wing tips, backs, necks, gizzards (but not livers) etc) and freeze them.
3. Saute vegetables in a large stock pot.  A stock pot differs from a Dutch oven in the ratio of height to diameter.  A stock pot is tall and skinny and a Dutch oven is short and wide.
4. Add the chicken
5. Toss in some herbs: oregano and peppercorns and anything else you like.  Thyme is good.  So is sage.
6. Add water to cover.  I put a basket steamer in on top to keep everything submerged
7. Simmer for about 6 hours.  Don't let it boil vigorously or it will make the stock cloudy.  Add water to maintain the level.  Add some parsley and celery for the last half hour.
8. Remove most of the solids and filter through cheesecloth.
9. Let is sit so that the fat comes to the top.  Remove the fat however you can.  I have a 6' piece of Tygon tube and I siphon the stock into a different container.
10. Store in 1 and 2 cup containers and freeze.  Be sure to put the date on the containers.

June 2015 Month of Meals

When it's warm I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, so meals are pretty straight forward.  But we do get a lot of good produce from our CSA and the farmers' markets.

.We eat a lot of asparagus!

Farmers' Market & CSA

This weekend the Wauwatosa farmer's market opens.  There are a couple others that have started already, but most don't open until mid-June.  We're excited about that.  We don't go every week but probably make it to three out of four.

Our CSA, Springdale Farm, will start making deliveries June 5th.  That's pretty early!  The farmers are all very happy with the weather that we've had: just the right amount of rain and they were able to plant early.

This is our 14th year as members of "our" farm.  It's hard to imagine not belonging.

They've added some additional acreage and have some opening for new members.  It's been a while since they've had openings.

 The Seeley's, owners of Springdale Farm.

Lamb heart

This looks good.

Lamb Heart Recipe

Our 13th Year With Our CSA

Community Supported Agriculture and Farmers' Markets:  We love them both!

Dear Laurie and Matt,

With this email we acknowledge receipt of your check; you are signed up for the 2015 season!

We will notify you again shortly before the vegetable deliveries begin, which we expect will be in the second or third week of June.

Until then, have a great winter!

The Seelys

Springdale Farm

W7065 Silver Spring Ln.

Plymouth, WI 53073

(920) 892-4856

We Bought A Lamb

Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm is a lamb farmer that we often buy cuts from at our farmers' market.  We love lamb, and decided to buy a whole one from them.

I don't know much about the cuts you get from butchering an animal, but the were very helpful in walking me through it.  We are getting:

• 2, 2 lb shoulder roasts
• 2 racks, Frenched
• 12 loin chops, 2 chops per package
• 2, semi-boneless legs
• 2 shanks
• 4 - 6, 1 lb packages of ground lamb
• heart, liver, and kidneys
• bones for stock

They will bring it to the market for us in a few weeks.  That should give me time to figure out what to do with the organ meat.

I can't wait!

Winter Farmers' Market

We had a very successful trip to the farmers' market Saturday.

• Ground lamb and lamb shanks from Pinn Oaks farm
• Blue and Settlers' Swiss cheese from Decator Dairy
• A Bronze Ranger chicken from Dominion Farms
• Carrots from Springdale Farms (our CSA)
• Eggs
• Celeriac

I asked the guy we bought the celeriac from if he ever grew okra.  He said he doesn't because okra really thrives on heat and poor soil "neither of which we have in Wisconsin."  Too bad.  We like okra.  Fortunately is is always available at the Indian (subcontinental, not reservation) grocery store we go to.

The market is at the Domes on 27th street.  It used to be in the lobby but it now is in the green house next to the Tropical dome.  It's a better location:  more space and much better flow.

Squash

We get a lot of squash from our CSA.  I bet we get 4 to 5 every week once they come into season.  That's not a problem, though.  We like squash, and they are very simple to cook, and fast if you use your microwave.

Here's the recipe that I use almost all the time:

1. Cut squash in half and remove the seeds.
2. Place squash in roasting dish, cut side down.
3. Place in microwave and nuke it for about ten minutes.
4. Poke it with a knife to see if it's done, giving it a couple more minutes if necessary.
5. Fluff the flesh with a fork and add butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

That's it.  Very simple and quick.

Pickled Eggs

I like pickled eggs.  I'm not crazy about them, but I do like them

I made a batch yesterday, 7/20/2014.  They are very easy to make and "recipe" is probably too strong a word.

Steep pickling spices in white vinegar for about 10 minutes on a slow simmer.  Peel hard boiled eggs.  Cool both and cover eggs with vinegar and let sit for at least a week.

We add cooked beets and habanero peppers as well.  You need more peppers than you would think because the acetic acid breaks down the oil molecules.   The beets give them a great color and a bit of sweetness.

I am sure everyone is familiar with Penzy's Spices.  It's a Milwaukee company and the Penzy's parents started a spice store in Wauwatosa, The Spice House, in 1957.  It's still open and we were there this past weekend to get salt and lamb seasoning.  They have other kids who also have a sice store on Third Street downtown.

Bacon

For about a year I have been making bacon a different way than I used to.  In a cast iron pan I'll put a little water, enough to just cover the bacon (that's not a lot), then simmer the meat until wth water boils off, about ten minutes.  They fry it like normal.

The bacon nds up plump and chewy as opposed to crispy.

I think I like it better, but I'm not sure.

Try it and give me some feedback.

Polenta

We don't make polenta all that often, maybe once a month, maybe less.  It's easy to make, but it's time consuming and you have to stir it every couple of minutes.

I can't recall if I've ever made grits, but I don't think it is quite so needy.  Maybe it is.

A good thing about polenta is that 1 cup of cornmeal makes a lot, enough for several meals for the two of us.  It re-heats very nicely in the microwave or you can make it into little patties as fry it up in some olive oil or (even better!) ghee.

Here's my recipe.  It's probably the same as everyone else's:

1. Boil 6 cups of water.  I use an evasee pan, but a standard sauce pan would work almost as well.  You can use 5 cups if you want a thicker product and you can always add more water while cooking if it gets too thick.
2. Slowly stir in 1 cup of corn meal
3. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to get the stuff off the bottom and sides
4. When done, stir in some cheese (we usually use Romano.  Parmesan is good, too - see Rule #6!)) or butter.
5. Serve

First CSA Box of the Season

We had an email from our CSA, Springdale Farm, about a month ago telling us that because of the lousy spring we've had, our first box won't be available until about the third week of June.  That's not all that late, but we always are looking forward to the first box of the year with eager anticipation.

Today I got an email from them saying that they have lots of lettuce & spinach available, and will make the first delivery this Friday!  Apparently the spring wasn't as bad on the farm as they thought it would be.

Saturday also marks the start of the first Farmers' Market of the season in Wauwatosa.

It's a great time of year to cook.

Here is a good article on Wisconsin Spirits in NYC in today's New York Times.  "Little Wisco!"

I was discussing cookware with my niece, specifically, what pots and pans are the most useful?.  Like everyone else, I have my favorites.  But I wanted to see if the ones I think I use the most are the ones that I actually do.

I began keeping track of each pot, pan, skillet, or baking dish that I used, March 8th through May 1st, 2014 (104 data points)  I did not record utensils like knives, whisks, strainers, colanders, etc.  Nor did I log work bowls or serving platter, only things that I cooked something in, with the exception of our food processor.

The results matched my expectations fairly well:

Item	Usage		Manufacturer	Comments
12" cast iron fry pan	17%	18	Lodge	Great pan all around, but heavy
2.5 qt sauce pan	13%	14	Calphalon	Our go-to sauce pan
Jelly roll pan	13%	14	Various	Mostly for roasting vegetables
13" non stick fry pan	12%	12	T-fal	Cook's Illustrated's top non-stick
10" non stick fry pan	6%	6	Claphalon	Mainly for frying eggs
5 qt enamal Dutch oven	6%	6	Le Crueset	The workhorse Dutchie
4 qt sauce pan	5%	5	Cuisenart	Great for steaming vegetables, too
Baking dish	4%	4	Le Crueset	Finishing steaks in oven, baking potatoes, etc
7.5qt enamal Dutch oven	4%	4	Le Crueset	A must have, but not as much as the 5 qt
10" cast iron fry pan	4%	4	Unknown
1 qt sauce pan	3%	3	Falk copper
10" non stick skillet	2%	2	Calphalon	Good for pilaf
Broiler pan	2%	2
6" fry pan	2%	2	Calphalon
2.5qt Evasée pan	2%	2		Great for polenta and other things requiring a lot of stirring
Tea kettle	1%	1
8 qt stock pot	1%	1	Calphalon
2 cup sauce pan	1%	1	Calphalon
Food processor	1%	1	Cuisenart
10 * 14 baking dish	1%	1
8" fry pan	1%	1	Falk copper
	100%	104

I am surprised that I do not use my small, 1 quart sauce pans more.  And I have two of them, a stainless clad aluminum made by All Clad and a stainless clad copper by Falk (the Belgian company, not the Milwaukee gear people.)

I know, this should be a graph, but my cut and paste is not happening.