I love Anne Willan’s book The Country Cooking of France because besides traditional recipes, it’s rich in both explanations and history. For instance, Anne says, “Parisians have tried to hijack French onion soup, but Lyonnais cooks can plausibly claim title to this bistro classic.”

She goes on to say there are two keys to good French onion soup: using pungent yellow onions, and caramelize them to the point that they are almost burned, to achieve more depth of flavor; she added her own personal tip of charring an onion and adding that to contribute even more complex flavor.

Now, as I explained in the recipe below, I browned the onions but didn’t fully caramelize them. Perhaps I’ve had too many sweet Americanized onion soups (likely full of added sugar, because half the time those onions were still crunchy – the sweetness wasn’t coming from the onions, that’s for sure) that I just am not interested in an overly sweet soup. That being said, next time I will make the soup the proper way, as I only have one other container left in my freezer, and I adore French onion soup, so I plan to enjoy it many times this winter.

Gratinée Lyonnaise (French Onion Soup)
adapted from The Country Cooking of France

4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1 yellow onion, halved but not peeled
1 teaspoon sugar
48 ounces beef stock or broth
Croutons made with leftover cheese fondue and half a baguette, sliced 1/2 inch thick
Butter

Melt butter in dutch oven/soup pot over low heat. Add sliced onions and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Press a piece of buttered foil down tightly on the onions. Cover the pot and sweat, stirring occasionally, 20-25 minutes or until soft. Remove the lid and foil, raise the heat to medium-high, and continue cooking until the onions are very dark brown and reduced, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. *The recipe said this would take another 8-10 minutes, but never in my life have I seen onions caramelize that quickly; I stopped after 45 minutes when my onions were light brown – it will likely take more time to get the deep brown color the recipe calls for.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the sugar on the onion halves and heat another burner to high. Place the onion halves directly on an electric burner (use a dry frying pan over a high gas flame if you don’t have electric coil burners). Cook until charred, about a minute or two.

Add stock/broth to the browned onions, add charred onion. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer to blend the flavors, about 15 minutes. Remove charred onion and discard. Adjust seasoning as needed.

The soup can be made ahead and refrigerated for 2-3 days. Reheat on stove top.

Preheat broiler.

Line baking sheet with foil. Butter one side of baguette slices, arrange evenly spaced on baking sheet. Place under broiler until golden brown. Flip slices over and top with leftover cheese. Return to broiler until cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

Either set 2-3 croutons in each bowl and top with soup, or ladle soup into bowls and add 2-3 croutons. Serve immediately.

When I was growing up, my parents made steak fondue every New Year’s Eve. It really was the perfect night: a relaxed dinner, followed by games and watching Dick Clark (at least, when my brother and I were able stay up that late). At any rate, we loved it much more than going out in the cold to a nice restaurant.

Thanks to the resurgence of fondue restaurants, I’ve been reminded of this simple dish and am enjoying fondue again. I even once threw a fondue party for my mom’s birthday. Let me tell you, when you do the preparation for cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, plus steak, shrimp, ravioli, and make several dipping sauces, you realize it’s worth every penny to go out to a restaurant for a multi-course fondue!

These days, I generally will only do cheese fondue at home, because I can make a meal out of it with plenty of vegetables and fruit. However, most of my friends and family don’t enjoy the traditional fondue of gruyere and emmenthaler, so I pretty much have to make this for myself. If you look at the recipe, you’ll see that it’s a LOT of food for one person, but never fear, I have plans for transforming the leftover cheese into a new meal.

This recipe was slightly different from all others I’ve seen and used previously. Instead of coating the cheese with cornstarch before melting, this recipe has you buttering the pot. I have to admit, whether intended or not, it made clean up so much easier; the cheese came right out of the pot, and that’s NEVER happened before, even with a nonstick fondue pot.

Cheese Fondue
Adapted from The Country Cooking of France

1 unpeeled garlic clove, cut in half
1 tablespoon soft butter
1 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
½ pound Gruyere, shredded
½ pound Emmenthaler, shredded
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Kirsch
dash of freshly ground nutmeg

suggested dippers:
sliced baguette
apple slices drizzled with lemon juice
cauliflower and broccoli flowerets
asparagus spears, raw or blanched
baby carrots
pear slices drizzled with lemon juice

Rub the inside of a fondue or enameled heavy duty saucepan with garlic. Spread butter all around inside of pot and add wine; bring to a boil over very low heat. Add the cheese in handfuls, stirring constantly in a figure-8 pattern with a wooden spoon, until the cheese is completely melted. Add pepper, nutmeg, and Kirsh; season with salt if necessary.

Spear bread, fruit, and vegetables and dip into the cheese.

Usually as we approach mid-November, I’m happily cooking and baking up a storm, relishing the bonus of a warm home. But this has not been a typical year. After a very hot, humid summer, we are still above normal, temperature-wise. As I type this, it’s 70 degrees! People have their heat turned off and their windows open. Everyone seems to have given up their coat for part of the week, enjoying this last(?) heat wave before the weather cools again.

It may feel like early fall, but it certainly doesn’t look it. The trees outside my home are barren, and seasonal local produce consists of cranberries, apples, pears, root vegetables, and winter squash.

With the upcoming cooler temperatures, I had to break out my French Country Cooking book. I want soups and warm vegetables, and hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meals. After my squash soup debacle, I immediately zeroed in on a recipe for roasted squash with herbs. I do enjoy roasted winter squash, and my frozen herb stash was recently depleted by a batch of chicken stock. Plus, the squash made a simple lunch for me, with plenty of leftovers for dinner side dishes.

This recipe is a keeper. It’s simple, hands-off, and I love the savory-sweet combination.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Herbs
adapted from The Country Cooking of France

1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh rosemary
3 dried bay leaves

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Wash squash thoroughly. With a large chef’s knife, cut off the base and top of the squash. Cut the squash in half, just above the base. Now cut each half down the middle, lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon and discard. Set each piece, flat-side down, on a cutting board, and cut into 3/8 inch slices (including the skin).

Melt butter and olive oil. Brush a very large rimmed baking sheet (or two medium baking sheets) with butter-oil mixture. Arrange squash on the sheet(s) so the pieces aren’t touching. Brush the squash with the butter-oil mix. Scatter the herbs among the squash, tucking some of them underneath the squash. Sprinkle the squash with sugar, season with salt and pepper.

Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil, brush squash again with butter. Roast for another 15 minutes, or until the squash is browned underneath. Flip over, brush with butter, and return to oven. Roast until tender and crispy around the edges (most of the pieces will have light browning).

Serve warm.

For my next installment of French country cooking, I wanted something fairly simple, yet seasonal. This winter vegetable soup seemed perfect.

I had to trek to a couple of grocery stores to find celery root, though around here that’s not all that surprising. This soup is perfect for a cold winter’s night, and it will warm you up night after night without getting boring.

This soup was worth the trouble it caused me: the vegetable scraps clogged my garbage disposal and sink. Whoops. I’ll refrain from going into detail, but let’s just say that it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Soupe Savoyarde (Winter White Vegetable Soup)
recipe from The Country Cooking of France

3 turnips
1 small celery root
2 large potatoes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 leeks, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
2 cups water
2 ½ cups milk

12 baguette slices
4 tablespoons butter
5 ounces gruyere, shredded

Peel and quarter the turnips, then slice ½ inch thick. Peel the celery root and cut into eight wedges, then slice ½ inch thick. Peel the potatoes and cut into small chunks; place potatoes in a bowl of cold water.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft but not brown, about five minutes. Add the turnips, celery root, and leeks; season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Press a piece of aluminum foil directly on the vegetables. Cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Sweat the vegetables for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent.

Drain the potatoes and add them to the vegetables. Add the water, cover the pot, and simmer until the vegetables start to get tender, about 25 minutes.

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until its steaming, but don’t let it come to a boil. Add the milk to the vegetables and taste for seasoning. Cover the simmer lightly until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes. Do not let the soup boil, or the milk will curdle.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Heat the remaining butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the baguette slices to the pan and crisp on each side. Top the slices with gruyere and place on the bottom of soup bowls. Ladle hot soup over the bread and serve immediately, so the cheese is melted but the bread remains crisp.

Leftover soup will keep in the fridge for about three days

I first started playing with choux dough back in college. At the time, my idea of cooking involved a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a sauce packet. My roommates and I would cut up chicken, then stir-fry the chicken, add the veggies, add the sauce, and let it simmer for a bit. Whomever wasn’t involved with the stir-fry would take care of making rice. It was several steps up from boxed pasta dinners and ramen noodles, and we felt quite virtuous when we made those meals.

When I baked, however, I brought out my cookbooks and started to really have fun. My first experience with choux resulted in chocolate éclairs. As you might imagine, those went over rather well in an apartment occupied by three young women. Next up was a lemon curd filling, with the finished puffs tossed in powdered sugar.

I never ventured to the savory side while in college, and it wasn’t until two or three years ago that I first made gougéres. I had high hopes, but I was a little overzealous with the eggs and cheese, and they didn’t retain their shape. I also used a recipe that utilized the food processor; that extra step keeping my hands away from the choux resulted in my not paying close enough attention to the dough; as with any dough, you really can’t blindly follow a recipe and you must pay attention to how the flour absorbs moisture. Since that kitchen embarrassment, gougéres have been on my To Do List to make again.

I’d promised to focus more on actual French recipes this year, though admittedly I’ve gotten off to a slow start. Because many of the recipes are more time consuming, I decided to start simple: gougéres. These instructions are fairly detailed and explain how to avoid the sunken cheese puffs I made a few years back. Definitely use the wooden spoon and forget about the food processor – it takes some muscle to work the dough, but then you won’t feel quite so guilty about eating the puffs!

Gougéres
recipe adapted from The Country Cooking of France

1 cup water
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
4 to 5 eggs

4 ounces shredded gruyére cheese
1 egg, beaten with ½ teaspoon salt, for glaze
¼ cup shredded gruyere

Heat oven to 400*F and line baking sheet with parchment.

In a small bowl, beat 1 of the eggs and set aside.

Heat the water, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball. Stir in one egg at a time until the mixture has completely absorbed the four eggs. Add just a little of the reserved beaten egg; continue to stir vigorously until the mixture has absorbed the moisture from the egg. Continue adding a little egg at a time until the mixture can absorb no more moisture. Do NOT add too much egg, or the puffs won’t hold their shape when baked. Stir the pan over low heat for 30 to 60 seconds to dry out the dough. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.

With a pastry bag, two small spoons, or a small ice cream scoop, spoon or pipe 1 ½ inch mounds onto the baking sheet. Brush each with egg wash then top with shredded cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and crisp. The puffs should remain crisp on the outside and slightly soft inside.

Enjoy warm from the often, if possible, or reheat in a low oven. The puffs can be stored in the freezer.