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Writer's picture: MollyMolly

Updated: Jan 9, 2020

Yesterday was my official due date.  I didn’t have a baby, but I did have some pretty fantastic brownies.

I needed an excuse, a “special occasion” to make these because a 9×9 pan has 3 sticks of butter in it.  Sometimes I like doing math, but I don’t even want to think about how that equates to calories/fat per serving.  That’s why these are the perfect accompaniment to soup — make a healthy soup for dinner and balance it out by a ridiculously decadent brownie for dessert!

These are from Thomas Keller’s cookbook Ad Hoc at Home.  I was googling reviews of a healthier Thomas Keller recipe (a Lentil/Sweet Potato Soup, if you must know; I’ll definitely be making it some day) and kept coming across rave reviews of these brownies.  None of which failed to mention the 3 sticks of butter.  Regardless, I determined to make these brownies as soon as I had a passable excuse.

They ARE good.  I actually liked them a little bit better this morning (ahem, yes, I had one this morning) after they’d cooled and firmed up a bit.  It just seemed like the flavors were more mature and had blended together better.  Keller suggests serving them with a (homemade) caramel ice cream or vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce, or with whipped cream; I thought they were so rich that I couldn’t imagine pairing them with anything but a little dusting of powdered sugar.  But you be the judge; once you’re going this over-the-top, you may as well go as far as you want.

Thomas Keller’s Brownies (from Ad Hoc at Home)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces [I used salted butter because that’s what I had, and I think the additional salt adds a nice balance to the chocolate and sugar]

3 large eggs

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract

6 ounces 61 to 64% chocolate, chopped into chip-sized pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. We use a 9-inch square silicone mold, because it keeps the edges from overcooking; if you use a metal or glass baking pan, butter and flour it. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.

Melt half the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Put the remaining butter in a medium bowl. Pour the melted butter over the bowl of butter and stir to melt the butter. The butter should look creamy, with small bits of unmelted butter, and be at room temperature.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, mix together the eggs and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until thick and very pale. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add about one-third of the dry ingredients, then add one third of the butter, and continue alternating the remaining flour and butter. Add the chocolate and mix to combine. (The batter can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.)

Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a cake tester or wooden skewer poked into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs sticking to it. If the pick comes out wet, test a second time, because you may have hit a piece of chocolate chip; then bake for a few minutes longer if necessary. Cool in the pan until the brownie is just a bit warmer than room temperature.

Run a knife around the edges if not using a silicone mold, and invert the brownie onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 rectangles (I cut it into about 16 squares). Dust the tops with powdered sugar just before serving. (The brownies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days).

[PS – I was going to try to post a picture of these, but after they were finally cool enough to eat at 9:15 last night, I didn’t have good light or the patience to take a good picture.  Use your imagination!]

Updated: Jan 9, 2020

I still have part of the biggest zucchini that came out of my yard this summer.  In the last two months, I’ve made two types of zucchini bread, stuffed zucchini, grilled zucchini pieces, added it to other soups and stir fries… and still it remains.  Good thing zucchini is so delicious and healthy … and versatile!

Here is a recipe from the Nourishing Gourmet blog for Creamy (creamless) Zucchini and Potato Soup.  It caught my eye when she posted it, and I finally had a chance to make it last night.  It was very tasty, but it’s not the most substantial soup and definitely needed something else to supplement it — in our case, we ate copious amounts of bread from my mother-in-law that I pulled out of the freezer; it would also be very good with a good grilled cheese sandwich, preferably using some sort of white cheese like jack or gouda.

I did cut the recipe in half because it’s just me and JR.  I also used homemade chicken stock since I figured it would add more depth of flavor to this simple combination of ingredients (not to mention all the health benefits of homemade stock).  The other changes I made to the recipe were using butter to saute onion rather than olive oil (because butter is delicious) and I have several heads of roasted garlic, so instead of sauteing fresh garlic, I added about 3 cloves of roasted garlic.  And I served it with some freshly grated parm cheese as garnish.

Here’s your recipe:

Creamy (creamless) Zucchini and Potato Soup

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves roasted garlic (or two cloves fresh garlic, minced)

1 T. butter

4. c chicken stock

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used 4 small red potatoes)

3/4 tsp. dried thyme

2 c. cubed zucchini

Saute onion in butter with a little salt until onion is translucent.  Add garlic (if using fresh) and saute around a minute longer.  Add chicken stock, potatoes, thyme and roasted garlic (if you’re going that route).  Bring to a boil and simmer 10-15 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender.  Add zucchini and simmer another 7-10 minutes until zucchini is tender.  Puree — immersion blenders are awesome, but if you don’t have one, puree in a regular blender in batches (being careful because boiling-hot soup splatters all over you and your kitchen are no fun).

Serve garnished with your choice of a pat of butter, a drizzle of cream, sour cream or parmesan cheese.


Writer's picture: MollyMolly

Updated: Jan 9, 2020

My husband LOVES French Onion soup.  I can’t tell you how many times he’s told me of his love for French Onion Soup.  What is it about the ingenious combination of these simple ingredients?  Is it the crusty cheese melted over crusty bread?  Is it the melt-in-your-mouth onions?  Is it the sweet-yet-savory flavor of the broth?  Is it something else, and/or all of the above?  Regardless, JR was predictably happy when I made this soup the other night.

This has become my go-to FOS recipe; how could it not be with a name like “The Best French Onion Soup (…ever!)“?  A couple of comments, and then I’ll copy the recipe directly from the original link.  One of the secrets to this particular recipe is the fact that the onions are veeeery slowly caramelized in the oven, rather than the more traditional method over the stovetop.  This makes for a much more hands-off experience.  I’ve upped the ante by throwing the onions (with the butter) in the crockpot… depending on how many onions you’re using, you probably want to have them on high for between 4 and 8 hours, and you will want to stir occasionally.  Warning: DO NOT do this at night or you will wake up constantly to the nearly-overpowering smell of cooking onions.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great smell.  It’s just a little bit more difficult to go to sleep to than, say, the smell of lavender.  You’ll also want to finish the caramelization on the stovetop just as the recipe calls for.

I’m also pretty lazy about the cheese I use, mostly because, well, I’m lazy.  Last time, I made it with provolone and then some parmesan sprinkled on top because that’s what I had.  It’s definitely best, though, if you use a good cheese from the swiss cheese family.  Likewise with the bread: you can get by with almost any kind of bread that you have on hand; just give it a good toasting in the oven and it will hold together for a while in your bowl of soup.  However, a nice baguette with a more chewy crumb will hold together best in your soup and you won’t end up with your last few bites of bread being a doughy, congealed glob mixed in with your onions.

Okay, enough from me: go forth and wow someone this week with your FOS-making skills!


The Best French Onion Soup (via Cookography … and go to his blog for some good pictures of the onion-caramelization process)

Serves 6

Notes:

For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Alternatively, the onions can be prepared through step 1, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before proceeding with the recipe. Ingredients:

Soup

  1. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces

  2. 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Make sure you get Yellow)

  3. Table salt

  4. 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing

  5. 1/2 cup dry sherry

  6. 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (They recommend Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth )

  7. 2 cups beef broth (They recommend Pacific Beef Broth)

  8. 6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine

  9. 1 bay leaf

  10. Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons

  1. 1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices

  2. 8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Directions:

For the soup:

  1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.

  2. Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

  3. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)

  4. Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

  5. Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.

  6. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

For the croutons:

  1. While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve:

  1. Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

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