Brain Fluff Soup

I must admit it - I'm not perfect. Wow, I could hear those gasps of surprise all the way from here. But, I assure you, it's true. Every once in a great while I have what can be described as a pre-senior moment, an unscheduled cognitive vacation, or a brain fluff.

I receive so many nice comments on my posts. I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a note about what I've written. Perhaps some people might be reluctant to leave a comment, fearing it will go to my head and I'll become an insufferable prat, too big for my oven mitts. Never fear, dear friends, never fear. I have far too many real life brain fluffs to think I'm the next big thing.

Here is the tale of one such incident.

I leafed through a cookbook and found an onion soup recipe that called for Applejack, something I had just purchased for another recipe. Score! I quickly scanned through the ingredients and found I had or could substitute for all of them. It started by sauteeing the onion in butter, so I plopped the butter in the pan to start melting while I diced the onion. Then it occurred to me that 4 large onions was a lot of onion, and since it made 8 cups, and my son was likely to turn up his nose at it, we'd have onion soup leftovers for a long time to come. So I quickly adjusted plans and halved the recipe. It worked beautifully.

My family raved about the soup. My husband said, "This is so good! It must have a lot of butter in it." I patted myself on the back and smiled. Then, later, the daughter with a life came home and had some. "Wow, this is delicious!" she said. "Does it have a lot of butter in it?" Hmm, I was sensing a theme here. As I was about to reassure her that I'd halved everything in the recipe, the instant replay in my mind saw the stick of butter falling in slow motion into the pan. Yes, I'd halved everything. Except the butter.

I'll give you the recipe how I meant to make it. I'm sure it's quite tasty that way. And if you want people to rave about it, double the butter.

French Onion Soup with Applejack
adapted from America's Best Recipes - 1988

2 large onions, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 cup Chablis or other dry white wine
1 32 oz. carton beef broth*
3 Tbsp applejack brandy
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dried whole thyme
1/2 bay leaf (optional)
1 clove garlic, crushed
Large croutons
1/2 cup (2 oz.) grated Gruyere cheese

Melt butter in a Dutch oven. Add onion and saute until tender. Add wine; cook over high heat 10 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring frequently.

Stir in broth, brandy, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaf, and garlic. Cook over medium heat 30 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Place 4 ovenproof bowls on a baking sheet. Ladle soup into bowls. Top each serving with croutons, and sprinkle with cheese. Broil 6 inches from heat 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

* I used chicken broth, as that's what I had on hand. French onion soup purists might blanch at that, but it still tasted good.