French Onion Soup Sandwich

Some of the crew from "The Chew" TV show have a new podcast called "Chewed Up".  I watch it on YouTube, but there are multiple outlets.  They post three times a week at 5am Eastern, which is 2am in my time zone.  If I'm up that early, it's for work and I don't have half an hour to watch during chat time.  It's still enjoyable without the community engagement.  They only post one recipe per episode, but they make it count.

This offering from Clinton Kelly makes me wonder why it is not on the menu of every restaurant and diner that serves French onion soup.  It's basically the soup en croûte if you drained off the broth.

I saved enough of the Rondelé from the last dish to make two lunches worth of these open-faced sandwiches.  I'm using the term "sandwich" loosely, since I consider all open-faced sandwiches to be a form of pizza.  As far as I know, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Clinton's original version makes four servings, so that's how I'm posting, with some amendments for how I made it.  I ended up with extra onions and put them in the leftover broth from the jar to make a slow cooker beef meal the next week.  Or you could have them as instant French onion soup.

*4 slices sourdough or other crusty bread
2 Tb butter
3 medium onions or 2 large
1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp thyme, or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar, if needed, to assist browning
*1/2 C beef broth
*splash of red wine, optional
*8 Tb Boursin, Rondelé, or similar soft herb cheese
4 oz gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded if available 

1.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat while you peel and thinly slice the onions.  Sprinkle them in evenly.  Add salt and thyme and toss everything to coat with butter.

2.  Continue to cook, stirring every ten minutes, until caramelized to your liking.  If they aren't browning after about half an hour, sprinkle in a bit of sugar.  Everything should be a soft mess.

3.  Deglaze the pan with red wine, if using, and beef broth.  Allow both to cook off until the mixture is fairly dry, then remove from heat.

4.  Lightly toast the bread, just to firm it up a bit.  Spread each slice with 2 Tb of the Boursin cheese, like you were putting cream cheese on a bagel.  Top with a generous amount of onions, then the shredded or sliced cheese.

5.  Toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or in the toaster oven for smaller batches at 400º until the cheese is drippy and browning.  Let rest a few minutes so no one burns their mouths, then serve.

Difficulty rating  :)

Cheesy Beans with Garlicy Greens

Didn't plan on that rhyming.  Slightly clickbait-y, but that best describes this dish.

With the kale doing better in the cooling weather and chard starts going on their true leaves, I need to use up the excess that I froze over the summer.  Also, it's time for a break from putting tomato in everything.

I'm doing the beans from dry this time, for the texture.  I didn't want mushy beans with cooked chard.  This becomes a two-part recipe.  The flavors go together very well.  The "sauce" for the beans also tasted great on the roasted carrots I made with it.

*3/4 C dry white beans such as Great Northern or Navy
4 oz garlic-onion soft cheese such as Alouette, Boursin, or Rondelé
2 Tb olive oil
*1/2 C diced red onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
*2 bunches kale, chard, or spinach, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Early in the day, sort and rinse the beans.  Cover with water by two inches and soak for 8 hours.  Drain.  Refill pot with water to cover by one inch.  Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook two hours, until tender-firm.  Drain, reserving about a tablespoon of the cooking liquid.  Stir in the cheese and allow to melt in the hot beans.

2.  When the beans are about fifteen minutes from done, start the chard.  Heat the oil over medium in a pot or deep skillet.  Add the onion and cook until softened, about five minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

3.  Add the chopped greens to the skillet, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.  Cook until greens are well wilted.  If you're having spinach, that will only take a minute or two.  Kale, more like ten.  Completely forgot to take a photo.

4.  Plate the cooked greens in a ring and spoon the beans into the middle.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)

Change in Gardening Tactics

When I started pulling summer plants out of the Pond, I found root knot nematode damage.  And forgot to take a photo.  It looks like little knobby nodes all over the roots, and comes from microscopic nematodes boring into them.  I've only become aware of the existence of this pest this summer, so it may have been damaging my plants for years.  The infestation isn't severe, but might explain why I've had more above-ground pests this year.  If it's a new problem, maybe it came in with a new bag of dirt or mulch.

There are amendments you can add to soil and beneficial nematodes that kill the bad ones.  I opted to "poison" my dirt to the baddies with flowers in the marigold family.  It's the most organic method I found and only $3 for a pack of seeds.  It's too late for warm-weather marigolds, so the lady at the garden center recommended calendula.  I also have to refrain from planting anything that the nematodes eat for at least a year.  Good thing I like beets.

I know I under-plant flowers, and pollinators in general.  I only want to water things I can eat.  Well, calendula petals are edible.  I'm in the early stages of research.  I won't have flowers for a couple of months.  They can be used in teas for a variety of medicinal purposes.  Calendula oil is a thing for eczema.  They even serve as a substitute for saffron.  Guess I'll have to start drying flower petals now.

As for the pots in the garden, they were disease-free as far as I could tell.  So was the lettuce patch out front.  I'll have to put my chard and leek starts in those.  My volunteer cilantro is already coming up on its own, as well as some carrots I must have forgotten about.  I knew I was dropping seeds when I harvested them, but there is no such thing as too many cilantro plants in my world.

We had a lovely rain last week to deep-water everything, and it looks like there won't be any more 80º+ days this year.  The next day, I seeded the lettuces, root veggies, and herbs.  I reluctantly gave up and bought parsley and celery starts.  The home-grown starts still need more time inside.

One quick note about the calendulas.  Props to Botannical Interests, I had a 100% germination rate.  That one empty cell in the photo was slow to break through, but had already germinated when I took it.  I rarely have that happen on the first try.  It took three seedings to get all the leeks, and the chard was about a 50% germ rate for year-old seeds.

We'll see how much of the winter garden is ready to use in December, but at least I finally got it started.

Green-Tomato Cake

I got tired of battling hornworms and took out most of the tomato plants.  Powdery mildew was threatening to weaken what the caterpillars didn't eat.  I'm also kind of over preserving the excess tomatoes.  This left me with quite a few green tomatoes to deal with.  I didn't want to turn all of it into pickled green tomatoes.  Most of them will ripen on the counter if I leave them long enough.  Meanwhile, I went looking for unusual recipes.

This idea of substituting green tomatoes in a carrot cake recipe piqued my interest.  I was skeptical enough to make a one-egg version in a 6" pan.  Also didn't want to grate all the green tomatoes I harvested.  Several pounds of cherry tomatoes?  Yeah, no.  I got halfway through doing the first one by hand and switched to the food processor.

My one-third recipe makes a very full 6" cake.  You could also double it as two thinner 8" layers, or the original size of recipe in the 9x13 pan.  I was also thrilled with the result when I used a cake strip around the pan.  Perfectly flat top and evenly baked, which is hard to do on a thick layer.

Unlike with zucchini bread, you're going to be able to see the green in this cake.  Sorry.  Too bad St. Patrick's Day is too early for even green tomatoes.

*1 C grated green tomatoes, measured after draining
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 egg, room temperature 
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
heaping 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Spray a 6" or 8" cake pan, and line with parchment paper if desired.  If using, start soaking baking strip.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  To grate tomatoes, either use a box grater or the shredding blade on a food processor.  Drain well in a fine-mesh strainer.  Lightly press out the juice, but it's ok if they aren't perfectly dry.

3.  In one bowl or a large measuring cup, combine sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla.  Whisk well.  In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.

4.  Pour wet mix into dry mix and stir until almost combined.  Add shredded tomatoes and fold in until everything is wet, but not overly mixed.

5.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until the cake passes the toothpick test.

6.  Allow to rest in the pan 5-10 minutes before running a spatula around the edges and turning out.  It's a very tender cake and I tore a bit by removing it too soon.  Once fully cooled, frost or glaze as desired.  I used a touch of cream cheese frosting only on the top, sprinkled with nutmeg and lemon zest.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  :)

No Meal Plan

While I was off for the holidays, I decided not to meal plan.  Part of why I meal plan is to grocery shop only once a week.  I was going to be able to shop every day if I wanted, so there was no need to plan more than 24 hours ahead.  Also, I didn't know when I would be eating out, so it didn't make sense to make four days of food that might take six days to finish.

This turned into an anxiety thing.  When did a cool life hack to take away menu indecision become an addiction?  I did ok when making the feta burgers, as "ground beef" was the last thing on my meal plan for September.  I was really feeling withdrawal while making a shopping list.  The day I made pizzas, I only bought a shallot, a couple of bananas, and some pumpkin creamer.

One day, I went to my old stomping grounds of Orange County and went antiquing.  Found the teapot for my Lavender Roses bone china set, making the trip expensive, but worth the time.  I'm counting it as my Chanukah present to myself.  Spent $12 plus tax on lunch at the mall, which to me seems like a lot, but in reality is just what a teriyaki chicken bowl costs these days.  Then I took the tray and realized there was so much food in the box that the lid didn't close properly.  I ate enough to shut it, then decided to get three dinners out of the rest by adding a can of lima beans out of the pantry.

The cooking day after that, I decided to use all pantry items and make soft tacos with the quinoa tortillas in the freezer.  Again, it was a three-day meal because I planned on eating out after Yom Kippur services.

I'm back on the meal plan and back to shopping one day a week.  I'm not ready to do a cleanse of not planning a month.  Maybe if I do a January pantry challenge.  I do miss the spontaneity of deciding what to make while strolling the aisles.  This would be easier if I had a grocery store on the way home from work again.

Painting the Lower Cabinets

18 months ago, I painted the insides of the upper kitchen cabinets.  Well, all but two small ones.  I was going to finish the job this spring, then botched my knee doing Passover cleaning and couldn't kneel for months.  But the floor looked amazing!

The stars finally aligned.  I had the time, motivation, and health simultaneously.  I didn't have to do any major cooking for the two days I expected things to be chaos.  It was time to empty the cabinets and break out the paint.

I quickly found out that the main source of procrastination was emptying the cabinets.  It was way more stuff than when I had done the uppers.  It took almost an hour, including the time carrying it to the spare room.  I have a lot of kitchen gadgets, small appliances, and pots.  Drawers came out without emptying, which saved a lot of time.  And once I could really see inside everywhere I wanted to paint, I realized how disgusting some of it was.  There was even debris from the last kitchen remodel 16 years ago.  I would have to clean first.  Still doable in two days.  Paint prep always takes longer than the painting itself, and I did not plan to do a perfectionist job.

The next day I did the cleaning and spackling part in an hour.  Had an early lunch while everything was drying, then did a primer of Killz to cover the stains.  That took roughly 90 minutes.  Killed a couple of hours watching shows, then went at it for a first coat.  Another hour.  By then, it was too late to do another coat and I cleaned up for the night.

In the morning, I evaluated the job.  It was better than I expected.  Not perfect, but good enough for something no one really sees.  The two little upper cabinets that I had forgotten about last year and the two below them were the only things that needed another coat.  I just had to put in new shelf paper and could start putting the kitchen back together.

I was hoping to declutter far more than I did.  A small box is going to the thrift store, and a bunch of containers went into recycling.  The good news is I actually use everything in the kitchen.

I think this is the last closet or cabinet painting project on my list.  I can stop contorting myself into ever smaller spaces.  And I'm very glad it only took a couple of days!

Feta and Herb Burgers

I was close to heating up the grill for these, then got lazy and cooked them on the griddle instead.  It always feels silly to do a round of charcoal for a pound of meat.  I'm the one who chose that kind of grill instead of propane, so it's on me.

I had four ounces of feta in the fridge and decided that burger night would be a cheesy version of keftas.  I tend to prefer seasoning the meat so that I don't need a sauce.  Sometimes I'll put one on anyway for texture, but it doesn't need it.  That's also why my burger photos tend to show just the patty and bun, without any vegetables.  That's what the side salad is for.

1 lb ground beef (80/20 or 85/15)
*1/2 C chopped parsley
*1/2 C chopped cilantro
*2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp pepper
*4 oz crumbled feta cheese

1.  In a bowl, combine meat with the herbs and spices.  It's going to take a minute to knead everything evenly.  Add the feta and mix again to distribute.  Keep some small chunks of feta in the mix.  Chill for one hour to allow flavors to meld.

2.  Prepare your cooking method of choice.  A: heat up a grill.  B: start the oven broiler.  C: Heat a griddle on the stove over medium heat.

3.  Shape the meat into four patties.  It's going to take a minute.  The leafy herbs will make it difficult to get all the meat to stick together.  Place the patties on the grill, roasting rack, or griddle.  Cook until 165º in the middle, flipping halfway through.  Serve hot on toasted buns.

Difficulty rating  :)

Harvest Chicken Salad

I took off for the High Holy Days, as I generally do most years.  There are so many commitments and services, plus staying up late for most of them.  What that meant to my eating schedule was that I would be having lunch at home 5-7 days a week, instead of two.  For two days, I like toasted cheese bread and an apple.  More than that, I needed a bit of variety and got out the last jar of chicken until I decide to can another batch.

For me, a summery chicken salad is what I already posted.  Going into the fall, I like to add more flavors to it.  The herbs change a bit.  Also, it was all items I had on hand.  The point was something easy to have ready to eat while doing a dozen projects and adulting things between the services that had been postponed during a hard month at work.

*1 10-14 oz can chicken, or 2 C cooked shredded
*2 green onions, finely sliced
*2 ribs celery, small dice
*1 apple or pear, diced
*2 Tb sliced or slivered almonds
*2 Tb dried fruit such as cranberries or chopped figs
*1/2 tsp orange zest
*1 Tb dried parsley flakes (or 1/4 C fresh)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
*1/4 C mayonnaise 
*1 tsp mustard of choice

1.  Drain chicken.  In a bowl, combine bite-sized chicken pieces, green onions, celery, apple, almonds, dried fruit, orange zest, and parsley.

2.  Stir in mayo and mustard until everything is evenly distributed.  Add salt and white pepper gradually, tasting and adjusting amounts.  You may use more or less.  Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating  π

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Tortillas

Another instance of me "inventing" something that exists.  I had to search a few times with different phrasing to find examples of this idea, but it wasn't an original idea.

I canned far too much sweet potato.  Remember, I didn't think I was getting this many jars out of the pounds I bought.  They smell amazing when I open one, and taste great.  Still, it's coming up close to a year and I need to finish what I made.  Here I used them as the liquid and "fat" in a flatbread.

These are not gluten free.  I never planned to make them that way.  They use a lot more flour than I expected.  They also have a high fiber content.  Found that out the hard way when I had two the first night.  Cut back to one after that.  Means a can of sweet potatoes makes eight servings.  They are very filling, so you never notice you're only eating one soft taco.

*1/2 C dry quinoa
*1 15 oz can sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 C whole wheat flour, plus about a cup more for rolling

1.  Early in the day, prepare the quinoa according to package directions.  This will probably include rinsing it well, to remove the saponins.  Drain and refrigerate until ready to use.

2.  Drain the sweet potatoes and mash in a bowl until smooth.  Add the cooked quinoa and stir until well combined.  Sprinkle in the salt.

3.  A quarter cup at a time, stir in the flour until you get a soft dough.  Allow to sit ten minutes to finish hydrating.

4.  Generously dust a work surface with flour and preheat a medium skillet over medium heat.  I used wax paper on top of my wooden board, and that worked pretty well.  Pull a quarter-cup ball of dough from the bowl and press into a disc.  Flour that, then roll into a thin tortilla.  Flipping it periodically as you go helps to keep it from sticking.

5.  Gently transfer the tortilla to the hot skillet.  This is when I got flour everywhere.  There's probably a way to flip it off the wax paper without making a mess, but I never figured it out.  Had to clean the stove after.  Somehow, the flour even made it clear across to the other side of the stove, on the floor, and in crevices I didn't know existed.  Cook for about 4 minutes per side, until lightly browned and firm to the touch.  Transfer to a plate, cover with a towel, and repeat with remaining dough.  You can roll out the next one while it's cooking.

6.  Serve warm with fillings of choice.  I did salad.  I don't recommend beans or anything with significant fiber.  Shredded meat would be a good filling.

Makes about 8

Difficulty rating  :)

Baked Falafel

I have been avoiding making these for years.  It didn't make sense to me to make falafel in the oven when you get a deeper flavor and crispy crust on the stove.  Finally, I was roasting an eggplant on a hot afternoon and figured I would slide these on the other rack.

This version deviates from the standard raw chickpea version.  I'm par-cooking them because I wasn't convinced a half hour in the oven would take care of things.  It isn't long enough to make them mushy, and you still get a good texture in the patties.  I actually added a touch of lemon juice to smooth things out a bit.

*2/3 C dry chickpeas
*1/4 C fresh parsley
*1/4 C fresh cilantro
1/2 red onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
*2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp each paprika, cumin, ground coriander, and salt
1/4 tsp pepper
*1 tsp lemon juice
olive oil for greasing

1.  Soak chickpeas in 3 C of water for 8-12 hours.  Drain, fill saucepan with fresh water, and simmer for one hour.  They should still be somewhat firm.  Drain well.

2.  Place chickpeas, onion, herbs, garlic, and spices in the food processor.  Pulse first to break up the larger pieces, then run into a chunky paste.  If you can't get a small handful to stick together, add lemon juice and pulse to distribute.

3.  Preheat oven to 375º and grease a rimmed baking sheet with oil.  Don't leave any naked patches.  I thought this was all going to fit in a 9x13, and wasn't going to get another pan dirty when I was wrong.  Did it in two batches instead.  On the other hand, if you want to make this into a falafel crust, it will line the 9x13.

4.  Scoop generous tablespoons of paste and form into patties.  Gently place on greased baking sheet.  Bake 30 minutes, until tops are starting to look browned and dry.  Carefully turn over and bake another 10 minutes.  Can be served hot or room temperature.

Serves 4-6

Difficulty rating  :)