Food 52 Cookbook + VB6 = #awesomedeliciousness

Food 52 Cookbook + VB6 =  #awesomedeliciousness

French onion soup - something that sounds so appealing on a menu, but no, how could you possibly eat that plus an entree if you've had all that cheesy goodness to start?  Way better to make it at home.  And I have the perfect recipe for you - from the Food 52 Cookbook  Then have a salad after and you can still feel virtuous.

What's even better is that this French onion soup is dead easy to make with a store bought stock, but it becomes totally transformed into the best restaurant quality when you make your own.  Don't be scared off - if you can turn on your oven and roast some veg, you've got it in the bag.  And the stock is totally vegan, if you care, or even if you just want to eat more vegetables.

When I was in my twenties, I served French onion soup to two vegetarians, not realizing that the beef stock I used was not ok!  They loved the soup, and then confessed that they were sick later.  Oops!  I wouldn't make that mistake today...Here's how to make a great all veggie stock according to Mark Bittman's cookbook VB6:

Fast and Flavorful Vegetable Stock , Slower Variation
adapted from Mark Bittman's The VB6 Cookbook

2 medium or 1 large onion, quartered
4 carrots, cut into large pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into large pieces
1 pound button mushrooms, washed but left whole
4 - 8 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled but crushed
1 bunch fresh parley, including stems
4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 tsp. dried thyme
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Roast the veggies - onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic on a half sheet pan or roasting pan lined with foil (no clean up!), for 30 - 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

Put the roasted veggies and everything except for the final salt and pepper in a stockpot with 3 quarts of water.  Boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.  (The longer it simmers, the deeper the flavor.)

Remove from heat and strain out the vegetables.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Keeps for a week in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.  (Use for everything and anything  calling for stock!)



Now on to the French Onion soup of your culinary dreams:

French Onion Soup
adapted from the Food 52 Cookbook by Amanda Hesser and Marrill Stubbs

3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
3 lbs. onions, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
6 cups vegetable stock, preferably homemade (or beef stock)
2 cups red wine, or beer
To serve:  2 slices crusty bread for each person
Cheese - can be sliced deli provolone, or better:  1/2 cup each gouda, gruyere, and parmesan mixed together OR see vegan variation below.

In a large stockpot, melt the butter and olive oil.  Add the garlic and cook slowly for 5 - 10 minutes until caramelized.  Add the onions, large pinch of salt, a few grindings of pepper, the thyme and bay leaf and stir. 
Cook over medium/low heat until the onions are very soft, about 20 minutes.

Pour in the stock and wine or beer, bring to a boil, and simmer, uncovered for 1 - 3 hours.  Taste and add more stock and/or salt and pepper as needed along the way.

To serve, put one slice of bread in the bottom of a deep bowl.  Add a ladleful of soup.  Then take one additional slice of bread for each person, and top with cheese.  Toast that bread in a toaster oven until melted.  Place the cheesy bread on top of the soup.

Be transported to a happy place.

(For a vegan variation with no apologies, sprinkle the second piece of bread with panko, salt, LOTS of freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.  Toast as above, and drop into the soup.)

Find these cookbooks and more in our own Library, or our member libraries.  Did you know you can use your South Brunswick card at any of our member libraries, which are almost all the libraries in Middlesex County? What's more, you can have books brought directly to our library from those libraries instead.  You can do this online, or call us at the Reference Desk at732-329-4000 extension 7286.

Diane Whitman
@whitlibrarian
Homemade stock convert
Reference Librarian
South Brunswick Public Library

Zucchinis and Twitter

Zucchinis and Twitter

It's that time of year again when good looking zucchinis are in every New Jersey market, and you can't help buying them because they look so fresh and healthful.  If you have a garden you probably have been resorting to dropping zucchinis off at neighbors houses. (Ringing the front door bell and running? -  well, maybe not that bad.)

In any case, here's a yummy way to not only use up but to enjoy zucchinis (and/or any kind of summer squash) in a versatile and delicious preparation:  Zucchini Butter.

(from Food 52's website)

Zucchini Butter is perfect warm and unctuous slathered on bruschetta, as a dip for crackers, carrot sticks or even zucchini sticks.  Or you can just do what my friend Carol did and simply eat this out of the bowl.  She proclaimed this "the best zucchini I ever ate", and my friend Barb texted me the next day for the recipe to make for her weekend guests.

This comes from the website Food 52, which I initially found because it sponsors and publishes an awesome competition for the best cookbooks of the year, but which I keep in my Twitter feed because it showcases some of the best food trends and recipes out there.  (www.food52.com, @food52 on Twitter)

Did I mention that Zucchini Butter is easy, cheap, and would keep well in the fridge for a day or two if all of it is not eaten immediately?

Yep, you should buy some zucchinis right now and have this tonight.  Disclaimer -  this may have been fantastically delicious because of the great quality of the ingredients I used:  fresh from the farm zucchinis and onion, flaky Maldon sea salt, black pepper imported by a friend from India, and olive oil purchased from Natirar Restaurant which they import themselves from Tuscany.  Which all goes to prove that sometimes great cooking is really just great shopping.

But don't despair if you don't have these same exact ingredients - the silky smooth "buttery" texture that the zucchini takes on from cooking down and having its flavors concentrated will still be present and wonderful; if not that elusive sweetness and freshness that you get from cooking with just picked ingredients.


Jennie Cook's Zucchini Butter adapted from Food 52's Twitter Feed, from July 24, Kristen Miglore

1/4 cup good tasting extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion (OR 2 shallots, OR 3 large cloves of garlic - in fact, anything from the allium family, to give that onion-y flavor)
Sea salt, if you have it, kosher or regular salt if you don't
Freshly cracked black pepper
3 or 4 medium zucchini (1.5 to 2 lbs.), grated to make anywhere from 6 to 8 cups (can mix in yellow summer squash too!)

Saute the onion (or shallots), sprinkled with salt and pepper, in the olive oil in a large skillet on medium low heat for 5 or 10 minutes until softened and translucent.  (If using garlic, cook only for 30 - 60 seconds.)

In the meantime, squeeze out handfuls of the zucchini to rid the squash of excess water, and then add all the wrung out grated zucchini to the skillet.  Add more salt, turn up the heat to medium high, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.  It's ok if the zucchini browns here and there, it will just add to the flavor.

Serve warm, or gently reheat if used later.  Yields about 2 cups.



Enjoy the bounty of the Garden State in summer!  And sign up for my All About Twitter class at the Library on Friday, September 27 from 12 - 1 to learn how to get connected.

Diane Whitman
@whitlibrarian
Reference Librarian
Jersey Girl/ Tweeter