Some things in life take a bit of extra time and extra effort to get a great result. French onion soup is a prime example. This will take a good 2 to 2 1/2 hours…but dear sweet MOSES it is worth it. You will have your mind BLOWN that you are enjoying a simple bowl of slow cooked onions under a gooey mound of cheese haven. Smells of sherry, deep caramelized onions, earthy beef broth, and fresh thyme fill your home.

I closed my eyes while enjoying this amazing bowl of soup and could hear the sounds of the tiny cafe in Paris with people whispering, rain falling outside, vespas rushing by, and the an espresso machine running nonstop. But all the while, nothing mattered but the delightful bowl of french onion soup that revealed long beautiful onions and drippy cheese with every bite. It makes me have FOMO (fear of missing out)…FOMO on amazing food.

This soup makes me want to slow down. I stir onions for an hour until they are caramelized. I breathe deep and enjoy all the smells that flow through my home as the snow falls outside the windows. It’s a lazy Sunday and a steady stream of different vinyls are on rotation…from Sam Cook to Ryan Adams and then the Band gets tossed on for good measure.

Grab the one you love, throw some good soulful music on, and dance. The soup will continue to cook and the longer the better. Don’t worry, you have some time. Get comfy and enjoy every bite of life.

Gluten Free French Onion Soup

Adapted from Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 lbs of sweet onions (about 8 cups), sliced thinly in half rounds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coconut palm sugar
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/2 cup dry sherry (or dry white wine or dry vermouth)
2 quarts (64 ounces) of good beef broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated

Instructions

Get ready…this will take at least 2 hours. But it’s worth it.
Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium-low heat. Place all of the onions into the dutch oven. Stir and coat the onions with the melted butter. Place lid on dutch oven and allow to cook for 15 minutes.
Remove lid from dutch oven. The onions should have cooked down. Stir. Add salt and palm sugar. Stir again and crank heat up to medium. Stir onions frequently and continue to cook until onions are soft, melting, and golden brown. This will take 40 minutes to an hour.
Sprinkle arrowroot powder over onions. Stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add sherry, broth, and thyme. Bring soup to a simmer and place lid slightly off of pot so that steam can escape the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for an additional 40 minutes, scooping off froth from the top every once and awhile. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
Ladle hot soup into 6 ovenproof bowls. Place at least 1/4 cup shredded Gruyère on top of each soup bowl. Serve immediately or broil the cheese. To broil the cheese, place all of the bowls onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place under a pre lit broiler set on high. Place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

I like simple things….

t-shirt and jeans…

a warm day in the middle of a cold spell…

a hug after a long day…

and winter citrus!

Winter citrus is an anomaly to me: bright and flavorful fruits that are at their peak when everything else is dormant. I can’t seem to get enough grapefruit, Meyer lemons, clementines, oranges, and especially blood oranges! Have you had a blood orange? Eating them is like a secret escape to my own tropical island. Where’s my mai tai? Where’s my pool? Where’s my hammock????

The salad I made is adapted from Alice Water’s amazing avocado and grapefruit salad from her-must have cookbook The Art of Simple Food. A girlfriend of mine had this cookbook and I poured over it every time I was at her house. And then I received a copy for my birthday!!! The recipes are so simple and so flavorful.

I swapped blood oranges in for the grapefruit and served it over a bed of mixed greens. Using blood oranges makes me feel like I just bedazzled my salad. I whipped this up for a quick lunch and took it to work, eating with some leftover salmon. It totally made feel like I was on vacation in the tropics and not sitting inside an office cage in the middle of winter peering out a tiny jail-sized window. Womp womp.

Hrmmm….note to self…get a hammock for my office….and more winter citrus!

Blood Orange and Avocado Salad (adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters)

Serves 4 as a side

Ingredients

4 to 6 cups of mixed salad greens, washed and dried
2 Blood oranges
1 Avocado
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions

Divide the salad greens evenly among four plates.
With a sharp knife, peel the rind from the blood oranges down to the flesh. Slice in thin rounds. Divide the orange slices evenly among four plates.
Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Sprinkle the inside lightly with salt. Inside the skin, slice the avocados in 1/4-inch slices. Carefully scoop from skin and divide the avocado slices evenly among the four plates.
In a small lidded jar, add vinegar and olive oil with a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake well. Drizzle the vinaigrette lightly over each salad. Store leftover vinaigrette in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.