(Creamy) Red Onion Soup

The creamy part is optional, if you're looking for a vegan onion soup recipe.

This red onion soup recipe was in the newspaper one day, and it's the first recipe I've used that I read and used in German. My German is improving! My German is improving! I'm sorry there are no photos yet. Next time I cook it I will remember to document the process. But you can do this without photos, believe me. It is that simple and easy.

Most importantly, this is a delicious onion soup recipe. It's a simple soup recipe, but it does require a couple of odd ingredients. I've made it three or four times in the last two months and I can see that this will be a staple for winters to come. And it's just as yummy the next day for lunch. I've even cooked it early in the day and reheated it for guests later in the evening - still perfectly delicious. The soup will separate a little, but once warm it will blend together easily.

Who ever heard of a red onion soup? Everyone knows about French onion soup, or as they say in France 'soupe a l'oignon'. This is very different. It's a blended soup, which means it's hard to mess it up as long as you've got an 'immersion blender', which is what I hear it's called in English. In German we just call it by its literal name: Stabmixer. (Don't forget to pronounce the 'st' like 'sht').

The soup has three garnishes - croutons, which you can buy readymade or make yourself with the recipe below, creme fraîche, and some of the gently fried onions. Mmmmm.

Anyway, let's get to my translation of the actual red onion soup recipe and hope for the best, shall we?

Rote-Zwiebel-Rahmsuppe (Red Onion Cream Soup)
Cook and prep time: About 40 minutes

Ingredients (for 4-6 servings):

500 grams (1.1 lbs) red onions (Höri-Bülle, if you can find them, otherwise whatever)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
150ml (2/3rds of a cup) apple juice
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1.5 Liters (6.35 cups) broth of your choice
150g (5.3 oz) creme fraîche
1 shot of dry vermouth
salt and pepper

Garnish: Croutons (recipe also included below)


Cut the onions into slices. In a medium soup pot, use 3 tablespoons of oil to cook the onions over medium heat, stirring often. If they are cooking too fast, lower the heat until they are cooking gently and slowly. After about 5 minutes, or when they are soft and slightly transparent, add a pinch of salt and then set aside about 2-3 tablespoons of the onions to use later as garnish.

Next you will deglaze the pot with the shot of dry vermouth. Pour in the vermouth and stir the onions, letting the vermouth cook off and into the onions. When the pan is almost dry again, add half of the apple juice. Cook until it is absorbed. Then add the other half of the apple juice, letting it cook into the onions, too. Don't boil the onions in apple juice! Do it in two steps!

Once the liquid is again absorbed, add the tomato paste and stir well, allowing it to heat and cook for a minute or two. Add the broth and some salt and pepper (careful with salt, your broth may already be plenty salty), and then let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

Meanwhile, set aside a small portion of the creme fraîche to us as a garnish.

After 10 minutes, remove the soup from heat and add the remaining creme fraîche, stirring until it is mostly combined. Now use your immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. It will still be a pretty thin liquid, not thick and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a few croutons, a dollop of creme fraîche, and some slivers of onion, and even some cayenne if you're into that.


Croutons

Ingredients:
4 cups bread cubes, best is baguette or a dried out stump of bakery bread
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 176C / 350F. Mix the salt and pepper into the olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Toss the bread cubes into the oil until coated fairly evenly. Spread bread out on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast in the oven for 6-7 minutes, toss them well, and then put them back in for another 6-7 minutes. They should look toasted when you remove them.

Let the croutons cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet to dry out just that little bit more. Yumm.

How to Make Fruit Kefir

Last summer my friend and I started making kefir every day and got really into fruit kefir. It's basically homemade soda (I'm convinced this is where the idea of soda came from) but gently fermented like kombucha. It's very easy to maintain as long as you're into it and can do it almost every day. I'm no doctor, but the amount of probiotics in this stuff has to be good for you. The kefir is alive and it digests the sugar (fermentation) but there's only a trace amount of alcohol. Which is good for you, of course. I'm quite certain it's much better for you than regular soda. Plus it's delicious. 

Here's the set of instructions which I made for a friend to whom I sent some dried out kefir so she and her daughter could start drinking fruit kefir, too. I have had two kinds of fruit kefir. The first was a very fine sediment which had to be cared for carefully - very easy to accidentally dump it. The second is full kefir grains, which are like big lumpy tapiocas which can be strained out and are easier to care for.

Main 2 liter jar of water kefir on left, two-1 liter bottles, plastic funnel and measuring cup (and a mess).

A few important things:

1. Avoid metals! You know this if you make milk kefir, but the deal is that only absolutely for certain 100% stainless steel is okay. I finally found some really high quality stainless steel things, but I used plastic for a long time just to be sure. A lot of stainless things are just coated with stainless steel and a small imperfection could do the kefir harm.

2. You can totally leave the kefir for a couple of days without "feeding" it fresh sugar water. If you leave it for 4 days or more it won't be drinkable and the kefir will be starving. It'll be super sour as the kefir will have digested every last bit of sugar. If you're going away for a long time, I recommend drying it out with a clean piece of cloth. With fine sediment kefir, pour the kefir through the cloth slowly and try to capture as much goop as you can. Dry it in the open completely before wrapping it in cloth or paper towels for storage. It can then be re-animated when you're back and ready.

3. This is a two stage fermentation process. The first fermentation is 24-48 hours on the counter unsealed with the kefir, sugar water, lemon, and fig. The second stage is 12-24 hours in a sealed bottle on the counter with fruit or tea which is primarily to flavor the kefir. Then it goes in the fridge to stop fermentation and cool for delicious enjoyment.

4. The lemon and fig are mostly for proper acidity and can be left out if you run out. Or you can use half as much for a short time. The kefir won't die if you don't have these things. Fresh figs are called for but I can't get those and dried figs are easy. They work just fine.

5. Depending on how long you leave the fruit kefir in the bottle for the second fermentation - and how well sealed the bottles are - you'll get more or less carbonation. Experiment. But I warn you, if you leave it out on the counter for more than 18 hours, you may want to open it outside, just in case. Better than spraying it all over your kitchen and yourself. (Yes, I have done this).

6. The level of sweetness is also dictated by the amount of time it spends in the bottle. After about a day in the fridge it's pretty sour. So drink everything within about a day or simply pour the leftovers out. I know, I find it hard to waste it, too.

7. The flavoring process is really fun and you should experiment. I use half of a clementine per 1/4 gallon (1 liter) bottle. One of my favorites is lavender and lemon. We also got great flavors from dried cranberries. About 15-20 crans with a sprig of mint or half an apple = mmmm. We also use teas, from black teas including earl grey (my favorite) to green tea or mint tea or sage tea... again, see what you like. I recommend a tablespoon of tea, at least, but you'll have to see what you prefer. I use two tablespoons for lighter teas.

8. The type of 2nd fermentation bottles you get is important, both because they should seal tightly and because putting thin slices of apple or citrus in (and getting them out) can be tough. You'll see the bottles I use in the pictures. They're great as far as sealing (and because there's very little metal and it doesn't touch the kefir) but it takes time getting used to the process of putting the fruit in and getting it out. Filling the bottle (once it's empty) with water and pouring the fruit into the sink has been the best strategy.

9. Just ask if you have questions or problems!

10. You really can't go wrong as long as you don't pour out the goop at the bottom. Just leave it in there and keep refilling. It's nice to have a second 1/2 gallon (2 liter) jar so you can sometimes transfer the fruit kefir and completely clean out the jar, but I only have one and it's fine.

Okay! Now the process!

In the package I sent, the kefir was like a dried out gob of lemon seeds, small dark brown fig seeds, and a creamy colored powder/goop, wrapped in some cloth. It can stay in this dried out state for a long time.

Put as much of the kefir and seeds as you can into a half gallon (2 liter) glass jar and wash through the cloth with a bit of water if it helps you extract a bit more. The seeds accumulate. They do no harm. With sediment-like fruit kefit, they're impossible to remove without losing some kefir, too.

Equipment:
One 1 gallon/2 liter jar with a non-metal lid
Two 1/2 gallon/1 liter bottles
100% stainless steel or plastic funnel
100% stainless steel or plastic fine mesh strainer
A large measuring cup

Ingredients: lemons, dried (or fresh) figs, sugar, and water. Each batch requires:

1/2 lemon, cut in half again
1 dried/fresh fig, quartered
1/3 cup sugar, mixed well into about 1/2 gallon (2 liters) of water

Steps:
1. Mix 1/3 cup of sugar (I use unrefined, organic cane sugar) with 1/2 gallon of water.
2. Cut a half a lemon into two slices
3. Cut a dried (or fresh!) fig into four quarters

Put the fig pieces, lemon slices, and sugar water into your jar with the kefir and leave it on the counter for 24 hours. 

The lid should not be closed tightly! For this stage, gas needs to escape. So turn the lid all the way tight and then back it off a bit so air can escape. 

24 hours is the length of time that seems to work for me, but the other measure is "when the figs float". So you could do this as often as you get floating figs. The temperature of your kitchen will also have an effect. Warmer and it'll ferment faster, colder and it'll slow down.

The next day, about 24 hrs later, without mixing up the liquid, slowly and gently pour off as much water kefir as you can and toss it out. This first batch should be tossed because the kefir is now just waking up. If you have kefir grains, strain out the kefir and dump all the liquid. I usually grab the floating figs and lemons with my freshly washed fingers. You may want to do another batch or two before drinking it to let the kefir revive properly.

looking ready

don't pour out that stuff on the bottom

that's about what's left after I pour off the drinking kefir

Now, refill the jar again with the same mixture of water and sugar, lemon and fig.


For the first drinkable batch:

When the kefir has been on the counter for 24-48 hours and you're ready for the 2nd fermentation, start by prepping your fruit or tea and putting it into your 2nd ferment bottles.

cranberry mint today

Pick out the lemon and figs from the main jar. If you want to, squeeze the lemons back into the water kefir - this is mostly for flavor. I do it every time. The figs and lemons are now done and can get composted or whatever you do.

If you have kefir grains you will simply strain the kefir out, reserving the liquid to pour into your sealable bottles. With sediment kefir, gently and slowly pour the fruit kefir from the main jar into a measuring cup (or something similar) that makes it easy to pour into the funnel and the bottles.

Because of the sediment, I usually pour one liter (or 1/4 gallon) into the measuring cup, split it evenly between the two bottles, and then pour the rest and split that evenly. The last bit that you gently and slowly pour out of the main jar will have some kefir floating in it. This continues to digest sugar and plays a major role in the carbonation process. I try not to pour off more than I need to get the majority of the liquid out, but sometimes I pour a bit extra so I know I get bubbles. If you have sediment style kefir, you'll see white-ish, flake-like floaties and you'll know what I'm talking about.

The bottles with fruit or tea and kefir in them should be well sealed and should rest on the counter for 12 hours (or so). 18hrs seems okay, too, and makes for fizzy drink. Any more and it tends to get a bit like a shaken bottle of champagne. Fun! But messy. Results will dramatically differ depending on the temperature of your kitchen, the season, etc, so you'll just have to experiment.

After 12 hours, the kefir bottles can go in the fridge. As soon as it's cold, it's ready to drink! I use a small (yeah) plastic or 100% stainless steel fine mesh strainer to keep the fruit and tea out of my glass.

always this on my counter and two more bottles in the fridge

Dessert! Frozen Bananas, Dipped in Chocolate

This is so easy but so impressive. Again, I'm using Thug Kitchen because dude has easy recipes that work (and it makes me laugh).

It'll take you about 10 minutes to make these babies, but you have to be prepared. You've got to have popsicle sticks. OR, if you're like me, you'll use whatever you could find. I found fondue forks and they worked beautifully. The second time (see photos) I used wooden barbecue sticks and I do NOT recommend them. You want something that is not a tube so they can't roll around.

You'll also need to melt chocolate using a double boiler or the microwave. I made a double boiler with a small pot on the bottom and a metal bowl on top that was big enough to not sit on the bottom of the pot. You follow? You want a space between the bottom of your top bowl/pot and the water in the lower pot. Chocolate goes on top and water goes in the bottom.

Why all this trouble to melt chocolate? Chocolate will never harden again if it's heated too much! The good news is you'll be freezing this stuff so it's not too critical that you get the melting just right.

I promise this is actually really easy, even the first time.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 3-5 minutes

Gear:
8 popsicle sticks, or something similar
a cookie sheet covered in baking paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil
a freezer

Ingredients:

4 bananas (makes 8 pops, adjust as appropriate)
200g semi-sweet chocolate (bar, chips, chunks) cut or broken into small pieces
2 tbs roasted, chopped nuts (optional)


Peel your bananas and cut them in half widthwise (so they're half as long as a whole banana). The popsicle sticks - or tiny forks - get gently pushed into the flat end. Don't push them in too far or you risk splitting the banana. Set them up so they're lying where they'll be when they go in the freezer, so you know you've got space for all of them.

Setting up the double boiler for chocolate melting... a pot goes on the stove over low heat with about an inch of water in it. Then you place an all metal bowl or another pot on top with the chocolate in it. The top bowl can touch the water, but not the bottom of the bottom pot.

Or, use a microwave and heat the chocolate in 25 second increments, stirring between each 25 seconds, until it's melted.

The hardest part is getting the chocolate to evenly cover the bananas. I dipped them as best I could, but ended up using a butter knife to spread chocolate where it was missing. I even scooped chocolate over the bananas when necessary. Drip as much excess chocolate off as possible.

Lie each popsicle on the cookie sheet and don't move it again. A pool of chocolate may form underneath, but it'll be just fine. Sprinkle your roasted, chopped nuts over the visible side. The second time I did this I used shredded coconut. Mmmm tropical.

Easy Eggplant / Aubergine Dip Recipe

What to do with eggplant? Or aubergine, if you will.

I have never, ever bought or successfully cooked an eggplant before today. I don't like them. There was one time when a friend gave us some eggplants fresh from the garden, and I turned them into a badly textured curry mush catastrophe.

So I was facing off against an eggplant in the fridge (more like ignoring it) and was lucky to stumble on this recipe from Thug Kitchen. Warning, that is a website absolutely full of expletives! It's also vegan, and this is a vegan eggplant dip recipe, incidentally.

It turned out delicious and it was super easy. I urge you to start with half the lemon juice and work up to the full amount if you are at all unsure whether your eggplant is indeed 'medium' sized. Otherwise, you can't really go wrong, even if you don't like eggplant at all. This is the easiest thing to do with eggplant, guaranteed.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 medium sized eggplant (2.5 lbs or so)
2 tbs lemon juice (the juice of half a lemon)
2 tbs chopped parsley
1/4 tb salt
1-2 tbs chili powder
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs olive oil and/or tahini (I didn't have tahini on hand, but I love it and will try it next time)


Start by roasting the eggplant. If you like to grill, you can grill eggplants whole. I heated the oven to 190 C (375F). I smeared a bit of butter on the bottom side of the eggplant and set it on a small baking sheet, then I carefully poked a few holes in it with a fork. It took about 30 minutes for the eggplant to get totally soft, which I tested by nudging it with a wooden spoon.

While the aubergine roasts, you can prep the rest of the ingredients. Chop things finely and mix all the other ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Easy eggplant dip = not complicated. Leave out a sprinkle of parsley and chili powder for garnish later.

When the aubergine is squishy soft (it can't be too soft for this so go long on the roast rather than cut it short) let it cool then cut it in half, lengthwise. I didn't let mine cool because I was impatient, but I managed to cut it in half without burning myself. I used a knife and a spoon to scoop, shovel the eggplant meat out of it's skin and onto a cutting board. I then chopped it up a bit to make it easier to stir into the rest of the dip ingredients.  Mix it all up and you're done!

Alternatively! You can throw everything into a blender or food processor, or use a stab mixer, and create a super creamy eggplant dip that way. I used a fork to mash everything together and I think I prefer the results, but you're the one who'll be eating this so do what you prefer. If you use a machine, leave out the parsley until the very end.

Enjoy on crackers or bread or with pita or tortillas.

Wasn't that easy? And guess what? It makes eggplant edible.

The Easiest Cookie Recipe in the World

And I mean it. For days when you have nothing to bake with but want a delicious, satisfying cookie, this is the one.

The recipe is so simple it's stupid. Easy cookies. But you can't be allergic to peanuts, that's the only thing that'll make this a no-fun recipe, because it is in fact the easiest peanut butter cookie recipe in the world.


Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (okay, I used 3/4 of a cup because I just couldn't do it)
1 egg

optional: chocolate chips

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375 F or 175 C.

Mix the three ingredients together until smooth. Add chocolate chips or other chunks if desired.

Dollop teaspoon sized dollops onto baking paper on a baking sheet. These will stick, so paper is highly recommended.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove carefully and let cool on a cooling rack.

I bet you can't find an easier cookie recipe than that.

Quick Couscous Vegetables - New Exotic (and easy) Recipe

My first visit to a Couscouserie happened in the summer of 2010. We were riding from France into Germany along the Saar River and we were desperate to get back to German bike paths and routes. Around lunchtime, when we were very hungry and too lazy to make ourselves lunch, we rolled into a small city. Usually we'd just have a picnic, but when we rolled into town we decided to stop.

The vegetarian option was couscous with a tomato vegetable broth-like soup that we were supposed to ladel over the couscous. Maybe it was the fact that we'd been riding fully loaded touring bikes all morning, but this simple meal was incredibly delicious. Here's my attempt at recreating something... similar. The end result is like a vegetable ragu or red sauce, but slightly more fluid, and you simply pour it over a bowlful of couscous. This is a simple, fast, and exotic dish. Garnish with chopped parsley, or for the full Moroccan experience, chopped mint.


Coucous Vegetables (for 2)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter or oil of your choice
1 med onion, diced
1 stick celery, including leaves, if you can get them, chopped
1 tsp harissa (optional, this is for spicy lovers - you can add chili flakes if you prefer)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 carrot, thin half moons
1/2 of a zucchini, diced
1 can tomato soup or sauce - or just diced tomatoes (any will do)
1/2 cup water (or thereabouts)

Couscous

Making the couscous is the easy part - you can boil the water in advance and re-heat it just before you make the couscous, but you should probably do the couscous last. On the box will be instructions, something like this: boil water, pour 1 part couscous and 2 parts water into a bowl, cover and let sit for 4 or 5 minutes, or until water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve.

I recently browned garlic in a lot of butter and added that when I added the hot water. Delicious if you want to try it. Another way to improve on simple couscous is to add a tablespoon of butter once the water is absorbed and mix well.

For the tomato vegetable part:

Prep the veggies.

Over medium heat, saute the onions until slightly soft.

Add the harissa or chili flakes and celery, and stir for about a minute.

Then add the garlic and carrots. Cook, and stir frequently, for about 8 minutes (depending on your preference for crunchy or soft carrots).

Add the zucchini and cook for 3 more minutes.

Once the veggies are at the desired texture, add the tomato sauce, soup, or tomatoes and about half a cup of water. Let cook for about 5-10 minutes - again, depending on whether you prefer slightly crunchy or totally cooked veggies.

You don't want this to be a totally watery meal, but remember that when the couscous soaks up the sauce you get great flavor. Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

I have always loved French Onion Soup, so good with it's crusty cheese bread on the top. Most recipes call for beef stock, but vegetable stock is just as good, if you've got nice vegetable stock. I ran into some organic, vegetarian, french onion soup stock, so I decided to brave making the soup myself. Lucky us!

After reading a few recipes online, I used (mostly) this one. I prefer the longer slices of onion to small chopped onion in this soup, although I'm usually partial to finely chopped onions. And I like my bread in the soup. But you can chop how you like, and serve the bread on the side if you prefer. On the second go-round I added more wine, and I think that made the flavor even better.

Prep should take about 15 minutes, depending on how you chop the onions, and cooking time is about 30 minutes.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 medium onions, sliced
500ml broth (beef, veg, french onion if you can find it)
1 tbl spoon olive oil
1 tbl spoon butter
1 cup white wine
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped (or 3 teaspoons dried)
1 clove garlic, chopped
shredded cheese to taste - gruyere is best, mozzarella is great, I used an aged, crumbly chedder, which was also delicious.

Prep your broth, so you can put the onions in as soon as they reach perfectly cooked. Slice your onions and then saute them in the butter and olive oil. The lower the heat, the less likely you'll brown the onions, but of course it will take them longer to cook. I like a medium heat, and I stay close to stir often, keeping them cooking without letting them burn. This can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on temp. If you can stand there stirring constantly, it'll be fast. So prep that broth! The onions should be cooked, transparent, but not totally gone, because they will cook a little in the broth, as well. I accidentally over cooked the batch in this photo, but the soup was still yummy. So...

Once the onions are done, throw in half the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. This puts a little fry into your garlic flavor, which adds depth. Then add onions and garlic to the broth, also adding the wine and thyme, and the rest of the garlic. Stir and leave on the stove at a medium heat to cook for 15-20 minutes. Don't let the onions dissolve, best way to see if it's done is to taste an onion. If it's delicious, take it off the stove.

While the soup cooks, toast two pieces of bread. Baguette is good, but we had some nutty brown bread so I used that. After it's toasted, sprinkle cheese on top and put it in the oven on broil until the cheese is mostly melted.

To serve I put the soup in bowls, then put a piece of bread on top, adding a bit more cheese and letting that create a bit of a layer on top of the soup in the oven. If you have better bowls than I do, you can probably do this more successfully.

I guarantee that the first time you make this, it'll be delicious. Then, the second time, it'll only get better. It's quite fast, but seems like a fancy dish - great for entertaining, I would say. Now that I know, I'll be making this more often.

Yummmy!