Made from cast iron, Le Creuset’s multipurpose pot can be used to sauté, fry, bake, roast, braise, or stew. The brand has been making cookware since 1925, so we have a hunch that they know what they’re doing.
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Curious to see just how great it is to cook a one-pot meal in a Dutch oven? The nice folks at Le Creuset shared an easy onion soup recipe from the Le Creuset Cookbook. It’s the perfect way to spend a lazy winter afternoon.
Onion Soup
(Makes four to six servings)
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs medium yellow onions, halved and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1.5 cups Gruyere cheese
- .5 cup dry white wine
- .5 cup unsalted butter
- 2 fresh thyme sp
- 1 garlic clove, halved
- 1 dried bay leaf
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley to garnish
- 4 to 6 demi baguette slices, cut on the diagonal ½-inch-thick
Instructions:
- In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Stir in the onions and a generous pinch of salt. Cover and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to brown (about 10 minutes). Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking until the onions are very soft and deep golden brown (about 45 minutes). Stir occasionally to loosen the brown glaze from the bottom of the pan. Stir more often as the onions darken.
- Deglaze the pot with the wine, stirring to loosen the fond from the bottom of the pot. Simmer until the wine nearly cooks away.
- Stir in the chicken stock, thyme, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.
- Just before serving, preheat the broiler on high. Butter the tops of the bread slices and broil until crisp and toasted. Rub the toast with the cut sides of the garlic clove. Leave the broiler on.
- Ladle soup into French onion soup bowlsor other oven-safe crocks, and place them on a baking sheet. Float a slice of toast in each serving. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the soup and toast, letting a little drape over the edge of the bowls. Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat until the cheese is melted and bubbly (about 1 to 2 minutes).
- Garnish with parsley and serve at once.
When you’re done making onion soup, check out some of our other delicious recipes. In the spirit of winter, may we suggest starting off with some chilior a hot toddy?
Feature image courtesy ofLe Creuset/Facebook.
The best fish to eat: 11 of the healthiest options for your plate
Even if you're picky about fish, you'll find several choices to enjoy on this list
There's a reason why fresh fish is often called brain food. It's healthy stuff, just like fresh fruits, providing nutrients while aiding the body in a number of other important ways. Fortunately, you can enjoy fish in virtually countless ways. You can go Hawaiian and eat it raw in the form of poke or grill it up on your deck. You can clean a fish and even age a fish. Many types of fish are also great in pasta, sandwiches, or even tinned up as conservas. There are pretty much as many ways to prepare fish as there are delicious species swimming through the many vast oceans of the world.
There are things to look for when you're combing through the fish selection of your favorite market, though. Look for terminology like "wild caught" on labels, ensuring that the fishery is being treated with the care and sustainability it deserves, wherever that may be. A great resource is this handy app from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium in California.
It’s International Whiskey Day, and you need to try these whiskeys from around the world
There are many lesser-known international whiskeys worth trying
While we love whisk(e)y every day (only the US and Ireland use the ‘e’ in whiskey), we truly celebrate it every March 27th. This is because that date is International Whisk(e)y Day. Celebrated since 2008, the holiday was created not only as a way to showcase how much of a global spirit whisk(e)y is but also to support Parkinson’s disease research publicly and to honor the late English beer and spirits writer Michael Jackson (a different Michael Jackson) who suffered from the disease. So, not only can you enjoy some tasty drams, but you’re doing it to highlight a great cause.
Whisk(e)ys of the world
Originally, the holiday was created to pay homage to American, Irish, Scottish, Japanese, and Canadian whisk(e)ys only. But it’s become a day to enjoy the spirit on a world scale. This is because, on top of the usual well-known whiskey-producing countries, there are a handful of lesser-known countries crafting award-winning, nuanced, complex, highly memorable whisk(e)ys that deserve your attention.
5 great international whisk(e)ys
What is chicory coffee? All about this unique variety of our beloved morning drink
Learn about this drink, also known as New Orleans coffee
When the going gets tough, the toughest know how to ration. This culinary notion has been proven time and time again and during the grimmest stretches of wartime or the most meager hours of drought and famine.
Chicory coffee came about under such less-than-ideal circ*mstances and has since become an edible celebrity along the historic streets of New Orleans. Born of restrictive laws that prohibited coffee imports, chicory filled the gap. While it contains no caffeine, it does offer woodsy flavors and a mouthfeel not unlike coffee. To stretch out limited coffee supplies, folks would add chicory to the mix. Like lard, chicory had an ability to extend the lifespan of prominent pantry items.
Napoleon’s blockade in the early 1800s resulted in very small amounts of beans making landfall in France. Similar moves by the powers-that-be at the time in other parts of the world kept coffee away and citizens were, well, jonesing for some. They got creative and went with something that, at the very least, resembled coffee. In turn, chicory coffee was born.
What is chicory coffee?
