Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Clean Eating #125: French Onion Soup Tartines


French Onion Soup Tartines

So the other day I picked up a copy of Vegetarian Times magazine and just flipping through it, I found several recipes that looked just awesome.  I bought the copy that had the feature on onions, since as you may remember from this video, my husband REALLY loves onions.  
One thing he likes even better than onions is crusty bread, so I knew this would be a huge hit.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp EVOO
*You can really use any variety of onions, I used what I had on hand)
5 small stew onions
4 small yellow onions
3 large red onions
4 Tbsp dry white wine
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp Agave Nectar/honey
1 tsp Thyme
3 sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped
6 large slices of all natural Como Loaf (this wasn't clean, you can use any crusty whole grain loaf to make it clean, but the bread my hubby picked up on his way home was to fulfill his craving:)
Shaved or Grated Parmesan Cheese


Directions:
1. Slice your onions somewhat thickly
2. Heat a skillet with oil and sautee the onions (you can try and keep some of them in their original form, but its really a big old pain in the butt for me, so I didn't bother because I would rather just have them cooked on my plate than thrown against the wall in frustration.  And no, I didn't actually throw any... but I thought about it.)
3. When your husband FINALLY gets home with the dry white wine, and you discover that even the cheapest white wine still has a cork and you have no corkscrew and everyone is STARVING so you tell them to eat some salad while they're waiting only to discover that you're also out of salad dressing... SO after your diligent and creative husband gets the cork out, or rather IN the bottle of wine so you can use it, he mixed up some wickedly awesome salad dressing just in time for everything to be finished and ready to eat anyway... oh yeah, add the 2 Tbsp of wine (Wait.  I waited for an HOUR to add TWO TABLESPOONS OF WINE??  That's it.  I'm doubling the wine.) to your cooked onions and heat until it is mostly evaporated.

Why?  Why would you name your wine this? 

4. At that point, dump in the vegetable broth and anything else you might have forgotten to add and heat it on medium for about 20 minutes, or until you can't stand it any longer.
5. Stick your sliced bread under the broiler for a few minutes until it looks pretty, like this.

Top it with the BEYOND divine French Onion soup you've just made

Top that with some Parmesan Cheese and a touch of salt

Serve with slightly burnt oven fries that SOMEBODY forgot about whilst waiting a year and a day for the white wine to get home and a salad with homemade salad dressing that your very awesome husband made for you on the spur of the moment.  

Speaking of which, IF he remembers what he put in it, I'll post a recipe for that as well because it was really yummy.  I always forget how much I LOVE salads until he makes me dressing.

Speaking of that, when we first met, our first 'date' when we met at age 19 was when he invited me over to his house and made dinner for me.  He made everything from scratch and it was the best meal ever.  Maybe that's why I love his homemade salad dressing so much... the great memories.  Dancing to Billy Joel in the living room... nice home cooked meal by the man who still looks at me with "that" look even after 17 years together... yeah, pretty awesome.

So spill it, what's your "fond memory" food?

I may have to make the chicken dish he used to make for our anniversary next month, if I can find some farm raised chicken to use... and that recipe calls for white wine, too.