BOOK/A TABLE - French Onion White Bean Soup

Cooking is often one disaster after another, Julia Child once said (or something like it) and I was reminded of that very notion while making this vegetarian French Onion Soup from The New York Times. The melted butter for the crouton sauce curdled when I added mustard and when I opened the thrifty portion of shredded Gruyère cheese I’d been harboring in the fridge, I discovered the underbelly had gone green. 

French Onion Soup without cheese? Quelle horreur!

I threw out the curdled mess and brushed my croutons with plain melted butter instead and skipped the cheese all together (I wasn’t going out shopping for more). However, despite these setbacks, the dish turned out to be quite full-flavored, even without the cheese! The use of white beans laced with thyme is a genius idea and I heartily suggest you try it. 

The meal was just for me and my husband, not a panel of judges (or unruly acquaintances), so it would have hardly mattered if I’d just decided to scrap the whole thing and ordered pizza instead. I would have preferred to have made this particular recipe as written, but the point is that guests rarely need to be any the wiser of your culinary disasters. 

In other words: what happens in the kitchen stays the kitchen. 

And as I’m currently poring over Emile Zola’s L’Assommoir, how could I not include this quote from it? 

“‘Coo!’ remarked Coupeau when they reached the first floor landing, ‘it don’t half niff of onion soup! Somebody’s been having onion soup, that’s certain!’” 

Perhaps, Coupeau. But I doubt very much it was made with white beans! Do enjoy. 

French Onion White Bean Soup
By Hetty Lui McKinnon
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
For the Soup
2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter
4 medium yellow onions (about 2 pounds), thinly sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs)
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
4 cups vegetable stock
2( 14-ounce) cans white beans, such as cannellini or butter beans, drained

For the Gruyère Croutons
2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon thyme leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs), plus more for garnish
Salt and pepper
½ pound bread, such as sourdough or ciabatta, cut into 1-inch chunks
3 ounces Gruyère cheese, finely grated

Preparation
Step 1
Prepare the soup: Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high. Once the butter has melted, add onions, thyme, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt, and stir to combine. Cover and cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes. If the onions start to burn, reduce heat to medium.

Step 2
Meanwhile, make the croutons: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the butter in a large bowl and microwave on high for 30 to 45 seconds (or melt over medium heat in a small pot or skillet). To the butter, add the mustard and thyme, season with salt and black pepper, and whisk to combine. Add the bread pieces and toss very well until coated. Transfer the pieces to the lined sheet pan, spreading them out into a single layer, and scatter the cheese on top. Bake until golden, 16 to 18 minutes.

Step 3
Uncover the onions and add the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. Stir the onions vigorously to deglaze the pan. Stir in the vegetable stock and the beans. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and lots of pepper.

Step 4
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, top with the croutons and scatter over thyme leaves.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

“Emotions would be half starved if there were no candlelight.”

—Desperate Remedies, Thomas Hardy

BOOK/A TABLE - A Love Letter

A new version of Wuthering Heights is fast upon us in time for Valentine’s Day. I hear the movie is ‘loosely-based’ on Emily Brontë’s novel, focusing rather more on the love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff as adults, as depicted by its stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. 

I’ll see it of course, but in the meantime, I’d like to bring up a little-discussed aspect of Miss Brontë’s romances—namely, her love affair with books! In Chapter 17 of Wuthering Heights, she writes via the character of Mr. Lockwood:

“No books!” I exclaimed. “How do you contrive to live here without them? If I may take the liberty to inquire—Though provided with a large library, I’m frequently very dull at the Grange—take my books away, and I should be desperate!”

Yes, where would we be without books, without love? Desperate!

I love that Wuthering Heights exists in the world because Emily Brontë dared to imagine it. This post is a love letter to her, then, flung across the moors of which she dreamed long ago. But I will always keep this gentle, final paragraph from Wuthering Heights close to my heart:

“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”

Enjoy this remarkably simple chocolate raspberry clafoutis, mostly done in a blender, and meant to inspire romance in every heart! (The heart-shaped cocotte from Le Creuset may be found here.)

Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis
Adapted from Gourmet 

Ingredients
12 oz fresh raspberries
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter (melted)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3-3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)

Method
Preheat to 400°F. Toss berries with sugar. Blend milk, butter, eggs, brown sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt. Pour batter over berries in a baking dish and bake for about 35 minutes, then top with chopped chocolate.

P.S. I recently ordered this gorgeously painted, gilt-edged deluxe edition of Wuthering Heights from Harper Muse! Other titles include The Secret Garden, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and The Great Gatsby.

Chicken Financiere

I have kept datebooks since 1988, daily jotting down where I’ve been, who I was with, and what dishes I made, along with a list of books I’ve read that particular year. Naturally, this can open a flood gate of memories...recently “fact-checking” something from 1997, I came across an entry that included Chicken Financiere. I was reminded that my friend Armando had come from Caracas for the week to celebrate my 30th birthday (it was also a reunion of sorts) and I’d wanted to make a home-cooked meal to welcome him.

The grocery landscape in Manhattan was quite different back then (before Fresh Direct, Whole Foods, Wegman’s, and the rest) and often entailed foraging through several markets and perhaps a specialty shop to find all the necessary ingredients. It’s funny to think how I must have dragged Armando halfway across town to find Castelvetrano olives and chicken livers for my Financiere.

I had met my handsome Armando and his best friend one delicious summer evening while walking through Times Square in 1992. They were visiting and I had just moved to town. They stopped me in the street, asking if I knew of a decent bar nearby. Of course, I did. One bar turned into several others and by the end of the wonderful evening, we wrote our home addresses down (remember that?) with a promise to keep in touch.

Armando and I still do keep in touch (it was his birthday a few weeks ago), but alas, he and his friend do not. I later learned they had a big fight (over me!) that night we all met in Times Square and parted ways, never to speak again. I was sorry to hear the news at the time, but after all these years...I delight in the idea that I inspired such a heated rivalry.

Do enjoy!

Chicken Financiere
Adapted from cdkitchen
Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 1/2 pounds chicken, cut into 8 pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 chicken livers
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup minced scallions, white parts only
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 medium white mushrooms, chopped
2 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and sliced

Directions:
Rinse chicken, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown chicken for about 6 minutes per side. Remove and set aside. Add livers to skillet and cook for about 30 seconds per side. Remove and set aside.

Pour off fat, add butter, and melt over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture turns golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Add scallions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 minutes more. Whisk in stock, wine, tomato paste, and parsley. Increase heat to medium, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Add olives, chicken, and livers to the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices run clear, about 25 minutes.

Divide chicken and livers between serving plates, coat with sauce, and serve. Garnish with additional parsley if desired.