Soup So Good It’ll Make You Cry

It has been FREEZING in NY this past week, and I know I’m from Albany where 20°F sounds a lot like summer, but since living in NY I have learned to seriously hate the cold weather. I guess it’s because I’m not hopping from my toasty house to the preheated car to another warm destination where I usually stay put. In NY, everything is a schlep, and in the winter…everything is a schlep with freezing cold ears.

And now I know I’m not the #1 person to look at a glass half full (unless it’s filled with dc), but one thing I do love about the winter is soup. And hot cocoa.

My Mom would always make French Onion Soup on shavuot. We never ate much dairy in my house, and since F.O.S (did you see what I did there?) is normally topped with a slice of baguette and mozzarella cheese – it clearly belonged to the dairy holiday. Now that I am married to a cheese-lover, F.O.S has become a midweek winter dinner. I would have liked to share my mama’s recipe, but the 7 hour time difference isn’t always the most convenient, and there is a F.O.S recipe in the new cookbook we got last week. So here it is: (By Leah Schapira, people)

For 4 servings:

Ingredients

• 3-4 Tbs butter (oil for parve..although I would try margarine)
• 3 Large onions, kept whole, thinly sliced (or 6 small onions..and probably 4 medium)
• 1 1/2 Tbs flour
• 4 Tbs beef flavored consomme
• 6 Cups boiling water
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1/4 Cup red wine
• Baguettes (optional..you can also use plain croutons)
• Mozzarella Cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Slice the onions. Cry.
2. Heat the butter in a 6 qt pot. Add onions.
3. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions brown a bit.
4. Add flour and mix well, add beef flavor consomme and mix well.
5. Add boiling water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Add red wine. Return to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
8. While the soup is cooking, slice the baguette and toast for 5 minutes. (skip if you’re using croutons)
9. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls. (if you have oven proof bowls – good for you – if you don’t..I put ours in the toaster oven.. seemed to be fine)
10. Top with one or two baguette slices, sprinkle with mozzarella and stick into the toaster oven until the cheese is melted.

[I took this picture from the internet (click it for the link). To be fair, it wasn’t easy finding a decent looking picture of French Onion Soup..it probably would have taken just as long to get a decent picture of mine – I don’t know what people are thinking posting disgusting pictures of their French Onion Soup online. Also we have really similar looking spoons, so I thought this could pass (even if they are for meat)]

gnight!

Li-or