Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Creamy French Onion Soup

Soups

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We celebrated by splurging on the tasting menu at Craigie on Main and enjoyed every bite. I also recently got a little present from the Fairy Hobmother. I left a comment on Joanne’s post that I needed a new immersion blender and was delighted that the Fairy Hobmother from Appliances Online granted my wish! She is spreading cheer throughout the blogging world and if you leave a comment on this post and make a wish, she might also visit you!

I wanted to make a soup first with my new gadget because I was also itching to use my adorable new soup bowls. I love French Onion soup, but hate it when the slices of onion slip off my spoon, so I decided to puree the red and yellow caramelized onions in my soup with the immersion blender. I also poured in a bottle of beer (Allagash White!) to add an extra layer of flavor along with the traditional beef broth. I topped the soup with a layer of croutons and creamy fontina cheese – yum!

The fine print: The Fairy Hobmother from Appliances Online sent me a complimentary immersion blender, but I received no compensation for this post and all opinions are mine.

Creamy French Onion Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large red onions, sliced (6 cups)
2 large yellow onions, sliced (6 cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 12-ounce Allagash White beer (or a Belgian style wheat beer)
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups croutons
2 cups shredded fontina cheese

Directions:
Heat butter and olive oil over medium low heat in a large nonstick stockpot. Add onions, cover, and cook 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove lid and cook an additional 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until caramelized. Add garlic and cook for 1 additional minute. Add beer and simmer 5 minutes. Add beef broth and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree soup until smooth and stir in apple cider vinegar.

Heat oven broiler. Place four heat safe bowls on a large cookie sheet and ladle soup into the bowls. Top evenly with crotons and shredded cheese. Broil for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 590 calories, 16.8g fat, 7.2g fiber, 21.3g protein per serving
Cost: $3.20 per serving

Spinach and Lentil Soup

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been raving about Apolinaras’ spinach and lentil soup. He has tweaked the recipe to perfection and it’s so good that I find myself filling up a bowl with it instead of ice cream for my late night snack. Don’t...

Mini Meatball Mexican Soup

Remember when I mentioned I was testing a few soup recipes last week?  Work has been super busy, but I finally got around to making this one last night and had to post it right away because it’s so addicting! I had a huge bowl for dinner and went back for...

Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Turkey Bacon

We had a blast in Chicago this weekend, but now I’m exhausted and it’s only the beginning of the week! There wasn’t a moment of downtime between Emily’s wedding downtown, navigating our way through the suburbs to visit our friends with babies, and squeezing in meals...

Thai Sweet Potato Soup

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of all our goodies from Eva’s farm share this week, but the bounty was similar to last time, except we got green peppers and wheat berries instead of the baby spinach and golden beets. I made quick use of the green peppers in...

Pumpkin Apple Soup

Well hello, did you miss me? Last week was a whirlwind, and try as I might, I never quite managed to get a post up. I spent the first couple of days attending a conference for work just outside of Boston. Then Apolinaras and I headed over to Portland, Oregon for my...

Indian Spiced Mini Meatball Soup

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I just love mini meatballs in soup! They turn almost any broth into a legitimate one pot meal and are just so delicious and cute. I make mini meatball soup fairly often and this time around decided to give my bowl a little...

Spicy Black Bean Soup with Turkey Bacon

I had gumbo with chicken and Andouille sausage for dinner tonight, followed by hot chocolate and beignets – yep, I’m in New Orleans! I’m here for a scientific conference and walked around the city tonight for a couple hours after my talk this afternoon. I was stressed...

Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup with Pumpkin Bread Croutons

I have a love-hate relationship with carrots. Carrot cake is my very favorite (although I'm not sure that really counts!), and I tend to enjoy hearty carrot chunks in vegetable and chicken noodle soup, but raw carrots just don't do it for me. I always pick around them...