French Onion and Mushroom Soup

From the looks of it, our lovely readers might think I only eat soups.  I swear, I do eat other things - but soup has just felt so right for my soul lately.  I'm not making Campbell's just add a can of water soups either.  These are hearty, filling, healthy soups.  Perfect for freezing.  Perfect for taking to work and eating at lunch.  Clearly a meal on it's own.  And unlike many of the canned soups, I know that my soups aren't filled with preservatives or sodium.

Many people focus on limiting fat and calories in their diets, but sodium is a surprising health concern as well.  That and it makes me bloated.  As I get older, I noticed my body react more and more to excess salt in my diet. The day after a salt filled meal?  Forget about form fitting.

French Onion and Mushroom Soup with Gruyere toasts:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 cups vertically sliced yellow onion (about 2 pounds)
• 5 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 10 ounces whole mushrooms)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Toasts:
• 12 (1/2-inch-thick) slices French bread baguette, toasted (about 6 ounces)
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Gruyère cheese
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled Gorgonzola
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

To begin, heat oil in a large a large pan and caramelize the onions.  The recipe from Cooking Light calls for the use of a Dutch Oven, but I don't have one of those, so I made due with, oh, only about three pans.  

It's an onion soup, so there are a LOT of onions to be caramelized.  Needless to say, I had to properly vent the kitchen so that my entire apartment didn't reek of onions.  Go ahead and caramelize these slowly.  It will take some time to get them to a nice golden brown.  Cook on high until tender, then reduce heat and slowly cook 40 minutes or so.

While these are browning up, chop up your mushrooms.  The recipe calls for Shiitake mushrooms, but I am on a budget, so I used regular old mushrooms.  Once your onions are set, throw in the mushrooms and saute until tender.  

Still in garlic and thyme and keep on saute-ing.... at this point, your kitchen probably smells amazing.  My entire studio did at this point... and it wouldn't be a bad thing, until I woke up at 3 am.  Let me tell you how those same smells are not as appetizing in the middle of the night.

After a few minutes of saute-ing, add the white wine.  I went cheap, cheap, cheap on the wine.  I didn't think there was a need for anything fancy.  Maybe there was.  Maybe this soup would have been even tastier with better wine and fancier mushrooms.... you let me know.

If you're using a frying pan, transfer to a saucepan and add in the broth.  I used more than the recipe called for because the broth didn't seem to be enough.  You could also add a cup of water if you only have just enough broth.  Simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes - be sure to stir frequently.

Shred up some Gruyère cheese and slice some French baguette.  The soup can be finished in two ways - either top the baguette with cheese and put in the oven to brown and melt the cheese.  Or you could toast the baguette in the toaster, top with cheese and melt in the microwave.  

Either way, ladle some soup into a bowl and top with baguette and cheese and serve.

Isn't the thyme a nice touch?

*Note - this is a light recipe, so while it's flavorful and delicious, it's not as rich as French Onion soups you might otherwise make.  

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Thank you California Pizza Kitchen for turning me onto the wonder that is Barbeque Chicken Pizza.  If you have ever had this pizza, it's phenomenal.  It's also very, very easy to recreate at home.

Or your home away from home for a weekend in Vermont. 

Which, by the way, had a full kitchen and counterspace. And a dishwasher.  And a full stove.  It was magnificent.  I didn't want to come home to my little (cockroach infested) studio kitchen. 

Sob, Sob.  Cockroaches.  I digress.

Behold: A little red onion that had big dreams of becoming something bigger than his little onion self.  Like a caramelized onion.

Start by halfing the whole onion.

And chopping into perfect little red onion slivers.

And toss the entire slivered onion into a moderately hot pan filled with a dash of EVOO.  Cover and allow to cook for approximately 30 minutes.  Stir on occassion.  Enough to keep from burning the onions to the bottom, but not too much that you keep the onion from getting a gorgeous brown color.  During this process, the sugars from the onion are releasing and making caramelized amazingness.

Like this.  Mmmm.... mmm.... If you find the onion sticking to the bottom, simply toss a tablespoon or two of water into the pan to destick and deglaze.  Be patient.  Caramelizing an onion is a process that takes patience.  While your onions are caramelizing, start the pizza.

This is a wheat Boboli crust, topped with plain old generic BBQ sauce.  Find a perfect balance of sauce.  You want enough sauce so that it's not dry, but not too much that your toppings slide straight off.  If you decide to use a dough crust, make sure you prebake your crust before putting on the toppings.  This will ensure that your pizza crust has enough time in the oven. 

Soggy crust and overcooked toppings are a bad combo.

Top with all those caramelized onions.  I thought this might have been excessive, but in the end, it was the perfect amount.

Add in your chopped cooked chicken.  I didn't do anything fancy to the chicken.  I marinated and then cooked in the BBQ sauce.  Careful not to overcook or the chicken will be chewy.

Cover entire pizza with cheese of choice.  Mine was about 5 ounces of white Cabot cheddar from Vermont.  (Note: A significant amount of cheese was sacraficed in the shredding of this block.)  So tasty.

Drizzling of BBQ sauce for effect.

Bake in the oven until the toppings are cooked to your liking. Basically, since everything is already cooked, you're just melting the cheese. I like mine nice and brown.  This was about 10 to 15 minutes.  I then topped with chopped parsley and served.

The caramelized onions were the key to this pizza.  Along with the freshly shredded Vermont cheddar cheese.  Using regular mozzerella probably wouldn't have been as good.

I didn't take any pictures after this because I was too busy stuffing my face. 

We at My Kitchen, My Sanctuary love our pizzas.... for more pizza, see here and here.