AGTV: Stock & Soup
Sorry for the delay in getting you this week's video. I think it's safe to say now that I won't be doing a video every WEDNESDAY, but I will try to do a video every week. This one, as you're about to see, is an incredibly spontaneous document of my attempt at the chicken stock from yesterday's interview with Michael Ruhlman. How many carcasses does it take? What do I do with the stock when I'm done? How does Karen Carpenter achieve such a melifluous tone? Watch the video and find out! [And, after the jump, I'll give you the recipe for the soup that I make in the video's second half.]
The recipe, for French Onion Soup, comes from The Balthazar Cookbook and it's unique because it calls for chicken stock instead of the more typical beef stock. For anyone with extra chicken carcasses, though, it's a great way to turn them into something entirely new and delicious. And don't skip the port at the end: I bought a bottle for $4.99 (Poor Man's Port) and it worked fine.
Onion Soup Gratinee
from The Balthazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr & Lee Hanson
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 medium yellow onions, peeled, halved through the stem end, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
4 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 quarts Chicken Stock
1/2 cup port
6 slices of country bread, about 1 inch thick, toasted
2 cups Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated
[Serves 6]
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. Add the onions and, stirring frequently to prevent burning, saute until they reach a golden color, approximately 30 minutes. Add the butter, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper and cook for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the white wine, bring to a boil, and reduce the wine by half, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the Chicken Stock and simmer for 45 minutes.
Preheat the broiler.
Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf, and swirl the port into the finished soup. Ladle the soup into 6 ovenproof bowls. Fit the toasted bread into the bowls on top of the liquid, and sprinkle 1/3 cup of Gruyere onto each slice. Place under the broiler for 3 minutes, or until the cheese melts to a crispy golden brown. Allow the soup to cool slightly, about 3 minutes, before serving.
