French Connection

Two bushels of homegrown onions recently found their way into my kitchen.

That's a lot of onions, just in case you were wondering.

Now, there isn't much that goes on in my kitchen that doesn't involve onions.

Or cheese.

Actually, that reminds me. I have a story i have to tell, comes from the kind soul up the road that provided these lovely onions. Plus, it involves Frainch stuff, which ties in nicely with the French Onion Soup recipe i am gonna give ya here in a spell.

I made a trip to the big city last week, and my special treat when i have to make that trip is to stop by Central Market for lunch. If you are not familiar with Central Market, go back and find the September 19, 2011 posting about the BFBC Pill Poppin' Potty Stoppin' Food Tour '11.

Central Market is a wonderment.

When i walked in that day, i discovered that it was the first day of their "France" promotion, where they were featuring all things Frainch. This was very fun, except that they turned the sushi counter into some kind of Frainch bread store, so i had to have a go at the salad bar instead of the sushi bar. The salad needed a little bread, so i went around the corner and found a little loaf of something fabulous, and then, as i was heading to check out, i passed through the cheese section. CM's cheese section is a thing of beauty. I can do some real damage there. So i decided my fabulous bread needed a piece of fabulous cheese, you know, to finish off the salad. I am pretty familiar with the cheeses they carry, and was looking for a little chunk of something that i hadn't tried before. I didn't look at the goat cheeses, because i am VERY familiar with those. I found several interesting cheeses, but, as this was lunch and i was on the road, i didn't want a big chunk of cheese. I walked across the aisle to the Frainch cheese section, which was located right next to the goat cheeses when something caught my eye......goat cheddar with nettles and dandelions.

Well. I can tell you that the search ended right that moment. I can also report that this cheese was divine.

At a hen party a couple of days later, i was raving about the cheese (because i was among friends that revere cheese and butter the way i do) and recounting the story, when the kind soul up the road pointed out the humor in the fact that i was too frugal to spend money on a big chunk of cheese, but perfectly willing to spend money on a small chunk of cheese with WEEDS!!!

In all fairness, i don't splurge like that often, and when i do, i justify it by calling it research. I found Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon, the goat cheddar that i aspire to make, during a little splurge like this. If you can find that cheese, do yourself a favor.

Back to the onions.

This time every year i get a mess of onions and can a case or two of French Onion Soup. It is a lovely thing to have in the pantry on cold days. Just pop a piece of crusty bread under the broiler with a nice handful of cheese on it while the soup is coming to a boil on the stove. I have also been known to use the soup as a base for a quick stew.

This year i have also canned just the onions.  When you caramelize the onions, they produce their own juices. The onions and juice can be jarred up without the use of of additional liquid, so you have an entire jar of pure onion loveliness to use in soups and casseroles.

Home Canned Home Made French Onion Soup

Just coarse chop a bunch of onions, drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a pot, and cook the onions down to caramelize. While they are cooking, bring some really good beef stock to the boil, and hit it with a bunch of Worcestershire. Got no measurements on this one, ya gotta taste it till it's right. Fill clean sterilized jars at least half way, up to three-quarters full of onions and the resulting onion juice, then finish filling jar with beef stock. 1" head space, 10# pressure, 60 minutes for pints, 75 minutes for quarts.