Aforementioned Slater recipe tested

1. Onions, once cut into quarter chunks lengthways, are roasted with butter, salt, pepper. 

The result is charred, sticky and sweet.

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Once cooled enough to handle, slice into thinner slithers. 

Cook with the white wine, allowing the wine to bubble intensely away till alcohol has burned away and you are left with a thick, syrupy concentrate. Takes a little while.

Once reduced, add stock and any other flavours. I added a pinch of chilli powder, black pepper, paprika, allspice (cinnamon/clove/nutmeg), a drizzle of honey, bay leaf or two and some sliced garlic. (Had no plans to kiss anyone). Also teeny amounts of dried green herbs, such a Rosemary & Thyme, for the woody warmth. Allow to simmer and bubble away till all the flavours have gotten to know each other and become friends. 

I also had some teeny baby onions kicking about (as you do) so I peeled them and sliced them in half and allowed them to soften in the bubbling broth. Adds another layer of texture and onion-ness. Worked beautifully. Result:

Thanks Mr Slater. I won't be intimidated by making this soup again. The white wine reduction was the revelation for me, took the flavour of the soup to another level. Nigel would probably be horrified at the amount of additional spices I added, but in the small quantities that I used, it all worked together really well, giving it a bit of depth and background warmth. Besides, I'm indian, I can't resist reaching for the spices and having some fun with them. It worked.

I decided against adding the melted cheese bread on top that day. I wanted the gentle soothing broth alone, it wasn't a cheesy sort of day. Its such a simple soup that you can get very creative with.

Enjoy it, its a winter treat.

No tears Soup

This is one of my favourite cookbooks that I own. Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries.

It's an honest, intimate peephole into his life, through his kitchen year.

It's a simple concept: he writes down the recipe for what he eats every day, one recipe per day.

He writes in such a loving, evocative way, and the photography is shot very beautifully & unpretentiously. All shot in natural light, no harsh shadows, printed on matt paper, the colours are slightly muted and the food looks gorgeous. As you read, you can almost feel and smell the way the weather is changing throughout the year, and how the light is changing and the recipes reflect that. In the UK, whilst we are busy moaning about the terrible weather especially at this time of year, its easy to forget that we are such seasonal creatures. Secretly we love it.  (I think...) I am leafing through this book to remind me of what is to come in the spring, to lift my spirits a bit, and get some comfort in the cosy moments that winter can bring. Right now I'm looking for a culinary hug.

I needed soothing.

The recipe for today, January 11th, spoke to me. In fact, it didn't just speak to me, it practically stroked my hair, it was so soothing. 'Onion Soup Without Tears'. 

French Onion soup is one of the top soups in my list, but I rarely make it because of the amount of labour involved, the whole hassle of slicing a mountain of onions for so little soup isn't my idea of fun cooking. Not least because I'm usually bawling my eyes out all the way through it...my eyes are too sensitive to onions. Ol Nige has a great solution: bake the onions with butter till they caramelise instead! Genius...and better still, his recipe dosen't demand that you use beef stock, which is a refreshing change. Its rare to see that in a recipe for this soup. Not that you should ever be a slave to any recipe, and I never use meat stock anymore anyway, but I was pleasantly surprised that he went for a veggie stock, because that means that the soup should not lack any depth of flavour despite not being meaty.

Nigels' recipe is surprisingly simple:

4 medium onions, butter (40g he says...but when you are raised in an indian household, you dont measure anything...unless baking...so I wont), a glass of white wine and vegetable stock.

French bread and gruyere/emmental cheese for toasting on top at the end.

I would be tempted to add a kick of black pepper, maybe a little nutmeg and a tiny bit of allspice for some background warmth. (and tabasco at the end...of course...)

To put it all together:

Peel onions, slice in half along the middle, roast in a hot oven with butter/salt/pepper till brown and toasted dark. When cooked, cut into smaller segments, bubble in the wine till the wine is reduced to almost nothing (alcohol is all cooked off leaving concentrated flavour only) then pour in the stock. Let it all simmer for about 20 mins (I would add any extra personal spices at this point). Serve with toasted bread and cheese on top.

Enjoyed reading about it so much, tomorrow I might actually cook it.

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