Our annual dinner is verrrry time-consuming but well worth it. I forgot that my recipe meant what I said tonight, so we did not eat til 10 p.m. Seriously, plan that your day is just about this meal and start after lunch. This menu is so good that we now cross Caesar Salad and French Onion Soup off our restaurant options. Bet you will, too.
Menu
The Best French Onion Soup
Caesar Salad
Bread of Garlic
Serves 6-8 depending on soup bowl size
Prep Time: 5 minutes the day ahead of time, and 5 hours the day of
CAESAR SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1 baguette, cubed and broiled til light brown (drizzle with Olive Oil first)
5 cloves of garlic, diced + ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil: place in Mason jar with lid and refrigerate at least 24 hours ahead of time
2 large heads (or 3 small) Romaine
½ tsp dry mustard
1 ½ tsp Kosher salt
Grated black pepper to taste
Place 3 TBSP red wine vinegar and 6 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil in another Mason jar with lid and chill while preparing meal
1 egg
¼ to ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
FRENCH ONION SOUP INGREDIENTS:
10 large onions – 5 red and 5 white – sliced thin and separated into rings
1 cup unsalted butter
2 – 3 TBSP Wondra
2 ½ cans chicken broth
2 ½ cans beef broth
½ cup white wine
1 tsp pepper
6-8 slices of your choice of gourmet bread, sliced to fit oven-proof bowl
12 slices mozzarella cheese
Grated hard Parmesan cheese (almost entire block)
Grated Gruyere cheese (entire block)
BREAD OF GARLIC INGREDIENTS:
Loaf of choice, sliced (this works with Tuscan, Rosemary, 3 cheese & more)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 – 1 ½ cups shredded Parmesan
5 cloves minced garlic
DAY AHEAD:
Prepare garlic and olive oil for Caesar Salad, refrigerate.
DAY OF (Begin 5 hours before you want to serve, I’m not kidding):
Dice baguette and broil til lightly browned, set aside.
Prepare Garlic Bread: melt butter, mince garlic, mix with Parm. Spread each slice with mixture, wrap loaf in foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour (or longer).
Peal and slice the onions, place on a platter or bowl(s).
When almost done slicing onions, melt 2 sticks of butter on medium in large skillet. Add onions to skillet in about 4 batches, keeping onions in skillet, just rotate more cooked ones to the top. This will take the most amount of time – about 2 hours. Sauté til onions are clear, but don’t burn.
While onions are doing their thing, prepare romaine: wash and rip into bite-size pieces, chill. (I also like to chill my salad bowl)
Place 3 TBSP red wine vinegar and 6 TBSP extra virgin olive oil in covered Mason jar and chill til serving time.
When onions are clear, add Wondra and stir in both broths, wine and pepper. Bring to boil, then simmer 15 minutes.
While soup is simmering, prepare part of the salad: Place croutons on bottom of salad bowl, pour over them 2 TBSP of the overnight garlic/olive oil mixture and toss. On top of this, place romaine and toss with the salt and dry mustard and pepper.
Set oven-proof soup bowls on a jelly-roll type tray (rimmed). Place a piece of bread on the bottom of each bowl and sprinkle with shredded Gruyere and purchased shredded Parmesan. Ladle soup over bread. Top with fresh shaved/shredded Parm and 2 mozzarella slices per bowl. Remove your bread and keep it in the foil. Place soup tray under broiler and heat until cheese melts, remove immediately. Watch it carefully.
While soup is broiling, finish salad. Cook egg in gently simmering water for 90 seconds. Pour about 80% of the red wine vinegar/extra virgin oil over the romaine and toss with Parmesan. Crack the egg over the salad and toss once again.
Feast!
Spot gave no paws. At first she was excited to hear the chopping, but promptly left the room when she smelled onions. Besides that, cooking cut into her nap time...
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