I'm Baaaaaack!

So, lots going on around here lately.  First, we happily moved into our own home 2 months ago( a small beach shack, but we don't own the land) right now we are staying with my grandmother until my parents return from Canada.  So, rather than cooking for two, we're cooking for three.  I've been pretty good about sticking to good foods, but lousy about taking time to blog and take pics.  So, I'm back with a vengence.  Today's selections are La Baguette's French Onion Soup and Fresh French Rolls.  i took a few pictures as I went along just to demonstrate . Do NOT put this under the category of quick meals, lol.  Here are the recipes as written:


La Baguette's French Onion Soup

Serves 8

6 cups (2 pounds) thinly sliced yellow onions

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc), optional

10 cups boiling chicken stock (or vegetable stock if vegetarian)

2 teaspoons black or white pepper, or to taste

French-bread croutons

1/2 pound genuine Gruyre or Austrian Swiss cheese, grated

Cook onions in butter, covered, over medium-low heat until moisture forms and onions are transparent but not brown, about 20 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to medium and cook 45 minutes or longer, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated and onion's natural sugars caramelize; onions should be dark golden-brown.

Add wine and bring to boil. Add chicken stock; simmer 2 hours, covered with lid partially ajar, on low heat.

Refrigerate, uncovered (to prevent stock from souring) overnight. When cold, skim congealed butter off top.

Before serving, add pepper to taste and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Place broiler-proof bowls on baking sheet. Fill each with soup and top with croutons and a handful of cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and browned in spots, about 5 minutes.


Source: La Baguette.
Nutrition data, per 2-cup serving: Calories 216 (39 percent from fat); fat 9.3 g (sat 5.3 g, mono 2.8 g, poly .6 g); protein 20 g; carbohydrates 11 g; fiber 2.3 g; cholesterol 31 mg; sodium 192 mg; calcium 311 mg.


Fresh Baked French Rolls:
Ingredients

3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups bread flour

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 1 cup flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Grilled Chicken and Artichoke Soup

So today is going to be a two-fer.  I will not bore you with the details, but today has been a VERY bad day.  I am feeling worse as opposed to better and hubby  volunteered to make us soup for lunch. He said since we have the leftover chicken, he would look for a good recipe calling for some of our leftovers.  Well, he went to AllRecipes.com and put the ingredient list of :chicken, artichokes, and tomato paste.  This is the recipe that popped up (changed to servings for 2 instead of 8):


Ingredients

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), snipped into small pieces
1-1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 clove cloves garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, minced
1/2 (13.75 ounce) can artichoke bottoms, drained and chopped
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 8 servings.

Place the dried mushrooms into the boiling water and set aside until softened, about 20 minutes. Once softened, squeeze excess water from mushrooms and finely chop. Reserve the mushroom-flavored water.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil grate.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Grill chicken breasts until no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes per side. Once cooked, set aside.

Pour chicken broth into a large pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, and reserved mushroom liquid. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped mushrooms, artichokes, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, and white wine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes; add to the simmering chicken broth.

Slice the grilled chicken breasts into strips and stir into the simmering soup. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 254 | Total Fat: 11.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg

Several changes were made for convenience sake.  He used the extra chicken breast from last night.  The only sun-dried tomatoes we had were jarred in oil (used those).  Instead of chicken broth, he used beef broth and no lemon juice. We didn't have any porcini mushrooms, so he used regular, white mushrooms. I don't know if its just because I feel lousy, but this hit the spot and was very yummy!.  It made exactly 2 servings which was just perfect.  He was able to use the extra artichokes and chicken from last night as well as some leftover tomato paste. (Nice clean refrigerator now :D )

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Easy Bœuf Bourguignon/ Beef Burgundy

OK, so I had some beef cubes and my mom had some leftover red wine.  I never have alcohol in the house, so I have no recipes calling for wine. I looked everywhere for a decent beef burgundy recipe with serving sizes for two.  I had no luck at all.  I found this recipe on All-Recipes and changed the serving amount to two for the correct amounts.  What I liked about this recipe versus many others was it was a one pot dish and very easy.  I found this recipe actually serves more like 3 servings than two so you can adjust accordingly.  Here's the Campbell's recipe as written from AllRecipes.com :

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound beef sirloin steak or top round steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped onions
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
• 1 cup fresh or frozen whole baby carrots
• 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons Swanson® Beef Broth (Regular, 50% Less Sodium or Certified Organic)
• 1/4 cup Burgundy or other dry red wine
• Hot cooked orzo pasta

Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 4 servings.

1. Place the beef in a large bowl. Add the flour and toss to coat.
2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until it's well browned, stirring often. Add the onion, garlic, parsley, mushrooms and thyme and cook until the mushrooms are tender. Add the carrots, broth and wine to the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the beef is cooked through.
3. Serve the beef mixture over the orzo.

This was YUMMY!!  I didn't really have any substitutions.  I used beef stew meat and broth made from a bouillon cube.  Also, I did not have orzo so I used Acini de pepe. This may be a general theme here, but it needed salt, lol. Also, we both agreed it needed to simmer MUCH longer than the stated cooking time. The meat tasted delicious but it was too tough and the sauce was more soupy than stew.  I think both those problems could be solved if I had allowed it to simmer for an hour instead of the 20 minutes stated.  Like I said though, tasted VERY yummy and this would be a good rainy weather recipe!

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