Dear Anais,
As you know you have always been an unusual child, but the only one I knew who could eat onions like apples. I think this is a trait from your Grandmother as it is said when she was pregnant and living in Denver she would only patronize one pizza parlor reputed to have raw onion slices on the top of their pizzas! I am not at all surprised that you should adore french onion soup so much. I have heard that this recipe I am including is some long lost relative of a Moosewood cookbook recipe. The Moosewood is a fine vegetarian restaurant located in Ithaca,NY ironically the exact location of the first Rainbow gathering your daddy took me to. I didn't get to go to the restaurant, but I did get to swim in the buttermilk falls and had a fantastic time on my first cross country motorcycle trip. So here is my version of the soup;
French Onion Soup
3Tb margarine or olive oil
4 lg onions coarsely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
dash of thyme
5c water
1 Tb better than bullion veg (you can use reg veg bullion, but this particular bullion has a nice beefy/brown flavor that adds more authenticity to the soup I would really try not to skip it)
2Tb soy sauce (make sure yours does not have msg)
2 Tb beer (any kind will do, but the stouter the better, let daddy treat himself to a Guinness)
dash of white pepper
pumpernickel bread
smoked provolone
This soup is perfect for a dutch oven, but in a large soup pot warm your margarine or olive oil. Add your onions and salt. Cook them at a medium high heat until they have *sweat*. Not until they are translucent, but are well coated in the oil and are starting to look glossy. Add all other ingredients. Partially cover the pot and let simmer for 30 minutes. It can depend upon the onion (as either white or yellow make a suitable soup) but the cook time is just until the onions are tender. When the soap is ready to serve toast your pumpernickel and cut or tear into pieces, cover with smoked provolone and serve soup over the bread and cheese and eat when it has melted.
Notes: Now some of you die hards will proclaim that mozzarella must go on top. I concede that provolone is not the standard, but smoked provolone tastes so darned good! Just try it and tell me you haven't converted! Also, I know most of you will want to put the cheese on top and purchase special little soup crocks to put under the broiler for this soup. Don't do it! After having crocks explode, splashing soup on myself and little kids burning themselves on the side of a soup crock-forget it. Leave that kind of thing to the restaurants. When you are at home put the cheese under and it will taste just as delicious even if the presentation is not as grand.
This next soup is so easy that you can make this for you and daddy any day of the week in no time flat! It also would be super to throw in the crock pot and turn on while you are at school and come home to for dinner.
Cabbage Roll Stew
1 package shredded cabbage (don't shred it yourself to be cheap-this defeats the ease of the dish here. I know it would be cheaper, but really hard on the back, and if you want to make it super easy, then just buy the package and consider it money paid to yourself for making a healthier choice)
1 large can chopped tomatoes (make sure there are no added spices, just plain)
1/2 c instant rice or 1 c precooked leftover long grain rice (no parboiled)
1/2 package boca meat crumbles (you can ground 1 LB ground beef for a meat alternative)
1 cube veg bullion
Throw all in a pot. Fill tomato can with water add that too. Simmer on med for 30-40 min until all is tender. Stir occasionally to make sure it won't burn. If it gets too thick add more water. Serve with a generous amount of pepper and a pad of butter/margarine on top.
Notes: As I said earlier this would make a perfect crock pot dish, it would be great to come home to. Just serve with a great hunk of crusty rye bread. Unless you are Polish or Ukraininan you probably are not familiar with cabbage rolls (golabki/holubtsi) which would be a staple or treat in your house. I am TERRIBLE (for shame!!!) at making this delicious and back breaking meal, so this is my cheat. And if you are going to break your back,you might as well make some potato pancakes too...
Gramma used to tray and be lazy and make hers in the blender but they never came out very well. And I would make the from homemade shredding them myself, and putting them in salted water to keep them from turning black, straining them and then frying them, but they always came out so greasy and sometimes the potatoes were not cooked all the way in the middle. I guess you could say potato pancakes were something our family traditionally loves to eat, but we are not good at cooking them. But then I found this recipe, and though it is not mine (it purportedly came from a manufacturer of potato flakes) I think it is better than all our family flops.
Lazy Ass Latkes
3/4 c flour
1 1/4 c instant mashed potato flakes
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 c milk (soy works very well)
2 eggs
1/4 c finely diced onion (green, chive, or yellow)
2Tb oil (safflower or other high temp oil for frying)
Mix up the dry, add the wet, fry up!
I have heard this next soup bears an obnoxious resemblance to a soup they serve at the olive garden, but mine is all vegetarian and is low fat.
Kale Soup
1 bunch kale
1Tb olive oil
1 onion diced fine
3 cloves garlic chopped fine
1/2 package morningstar farms sausage crumbles or 4 links boca Italian sausages crumbled or 1/2 package morningstar farms ground beef crumbles +1tsp fennel seed
4 med sized red potatoes thinly sliced or shaved
1 c milk
4 c water
1 cube veg bullion (no msg w/ sea salt)
1 dash red chile flakes
Heat olive oil saute onions for 5 min de-rib and chop kale into bite sized pieces. Add kale and garlic to the mixture until fully wilted. Add the remainder of ingredients simmering 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender, or start to break when you stir roughly. Serve with grated Parmesan.
This next recipe is really a misnomer. I have not put real chicken in the chicken and dumplings recipe for a long time, but try telling your friends you have invited them of for veg'n and dumplings they don't look nearly as enticed as they did before no matter how hard you explain it away. I mean really, let's be frank, does fooling a flesh eater really carry the same sort of sin as fooling a vegan? So even thought I generally don't serve this with poultry I have always called this chicken and dumplings and probably always will.
Chicken and Dumplings
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1/c carrot or 3-4 baby carrots chopped
1 small can mushrooms ( you can use fresh, but first you must saute them until they are golden brown)
1 small can peas
1 small potato cubed
1 cube veg bullion
1 small bay leaf (maybe even half one)
1 tsp poultry seasoning (you can use Italian seasoning in a pinch)
2 planks Qorn crumbled or 1 can chicken for non-vegetarian variation (optional)
1 c milk
3 c water
1 Tb corn starch
1/3 c water
squirt of lemon
dumplings:
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 c milk
Saute onions in dutch oven or soup making pot until dark Brown and nearly burnt (but not bunt!) to give your soup a nice golden color. Add garlic, carrots, potato and shrooms with bullion water and seasoning to simmer for 20 min. Add milk and peas and bring to a boil. Mix together your corn starch and 1/3 c water until there are no lumps. When you have a rolling boil add this in slowly stirring constantly. After 5 minutes see if this is thick enough for you. If you like it thicker repeat with another 1/3 c water and 1 TB cornstarch. Note that it will thicken some with cooling and the addition of dumplings-you don't want to make a chicken pudding! Keep it going at a low simmer while you prepare the dumplings. I usually like to do this right in the measuring cup. It does not need to be exact. I throw the dry ingredients in (flour, BP , and salt) and then swirl in the milk until it is gloppy and gluey. Then take a spoon and throw teaspoonfuls into soup pot. Make sure the soup is still boiling so they don't sink. The more BP you add the fluffier your dumplings, the less the doughier or noodlier they will be. I vary them depending on my mood. once you get them all in there, put a lid on the pot, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Squirt the lemon in there stir it around and serve!
Notes: Do not try and cheat here and by a can of vegall! If you could, believe me I would have taken the short cut. If you do the carrots will overwhelm the dish, the lentils will stand out, the celery will be out of place (it has a sort of Italian flavor with the bay leaf oddly enough) and there are too many potatoes. Also, do not be tempted to add more potatoes. The one tiny potato is just to add the little earthy flavor it imparts. The dumplings themselves are bready enough with the potato it would be starch-o-rama! Maybe I should alter the recipe for a turnip or parsnip instead-it's just that potatoes are so handy. We all have usually them in our cabinet.
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