Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

I get home late two nights a week and try to do slow cooker meals on those nights. It's been really cold here, perfect soup weather. I was thumbing through Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook looking for a new soup to try. When I saw the French Onion Soup, I was hooked. French Onion Soup in the slow cooker, seriously?

If you've made French Onion Soup you know it's an afternoon project. I was excited to think I might be able to make French Onion Soup while I was at work. I did some searching on the internet and found a few other slow cooker French Onion Soup recipes. With the recipe from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook recipe as my inspiration, I created my own version. Most recipes call for dry white wine, cognac or brandy, I decided to use leftover champagne. I think it added a wonderful depth of flavor. The recipe in Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook cooks the onions for 10 - 12 hours, adds the wine and broth and cooks 1 -2 additional hours. I felt the soup would have a better flavor if the broth cooked longer. I also thought the original recipe was lacking in some spices, so I chose to add bay leaves and thyme.

Give this soup a try! It is almost, if not as good, as French Onion Soup cooked on the stove.



French Onion Soup
Adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
Serves 2

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon flavorful olive oil
2 large onions
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 - 3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I used champagne)
2 cups beef broth
Thick slices of French bread, small enough to fit inside the rim of the soup bowl, for each serving
2 teaspoons cognac or white wine (I used champagne)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Approximately 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese for each serving

1. Combine the butter and oil in the slow cooker and cover. Turn the slow cooker on low and allow the butter melt and the oil to heat which you slice the onions.
2. Peel the onions, slice in half lengthwise, slice thinly into half moons. You should have about 4 cups of onion slices. Add them to the cooker. Sprinkle the salt and sugar over the onions. Toss with oil, butter, sugar and salt to coat them. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour, stir. Turn the temperature down to LOW and cook until they are dark brown and caramelized, but not burned. (I cooked mine about 5 hours.) They will have cooked down to a fraction of their original volume and most of the liquid will be evaporated. If you are home, stir the onions once or twice during the cooking time to help them cook evenly. (I didn't stir mine after the first hour and they browned nicely.)
3. When the onions are done, add the wine, broth, bay leaves and thyme. Cover and continue to cook on LOW 4 -5 hours.
4. When you are ready to serve the soup, stir in the cognac. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toast the bread. Preheat the oven to 350. Put the bread slices on a baking sheet and bake until toasted, 10 - 15 minutes. Increase the temperature to 400.
5. Pour the soup into 2 ovenproof soup bowls; place on a baking sheet. Drop a bit of the cheese into the soup. Top each bowl with bread. Pile the rest of the cheese on top of the bread. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and browned, about 10 minutes. You can also put it under the broiler for a minute or two to help brown the cheese. Serve immediately.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday and Souper Sundays!

Chicken With Beer

Is there a help group for cookbook addiction? If so, I think I need to join. I haven’t done a cookbook count lately but I know I have over 100. I started blogging so I would use recipes from my library of cookbooks. So what do I do? I just keep buying more cookbooks. I really like my recent cookbook purchase, Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker. I’ve made three recipes from this book and they’ve all been a hit. Beef Stew, which I liked and Tim thought was okay. A wonderful Chicken with Beans which I forgot to photograph. Sometimes we’re so focused on eating, we forget the camera until it’s too late. We forgot to photograph this recipe as well but snapped a quick shot of the one leftover thigh. Not the best picture but you get the idea.

I made a few changes to this recipe. Because it was cooking all day, I wanted to have plenty of liquid. I added a little more beer and some chicken stock. I also added potatoes and would have added carrots but I didn’t have time to peel before work. I found this recipe interesting because it used Herbs de Provence. I wasn’t sure exactly what that was so I did some reading. I found several recipes, some with lavender and some without. I like to cook with lavender but I wasn’t convinced the floral flavor was what I wanted for this chicken. My spice drawer contained everything except the savory, so I made my own version of the herbs. This chicken was delicious. It has a nice hint of beer and a beautiful herb flavor.





Chicken with Beer
Recipe adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

About 1/2 cup flour
4 boneless chicken breast halves, with skin on
(I used 2 breasts and 4 thighs)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup beer
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspooon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
2 bay leaves, broken in half

Put the flour on shallow plate or a pie plate. One piece at a time, dredge the chicken in the flour, coating both sides and shaking off any excess.

Drizzle the olive oil into a large skillet over medium high heat. When it begins to sizzle, add the chicken, skin side down and cook until deep golden brown on both sides, 5 to 7 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. Add the beer and chicken broth to the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan. Pout over the chicken. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and herbes de Provence. Tuck the bay leaves among the chicken pieces. Cover and cook on HIGH 8 to 9 hours.

Herbes de Provence
3 tablespoons oregano leaves
3 tablespoons thyme leaves
1 teaspoon basil leaves
1 teaspoon sage leaf
3 tablespoons savory
2 tablespoons lavender flowers
1 teaspoon rosemary
Combine and mix well. Store in a cool, dry place.

I am linking this to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday , Tuesday's at the Table and Tasty Tuesday's.

Mom's Beef Stew - Foodie Friday

Have you ever purchased any "used" books on Amazon? If you haven't, you should check it out. That's how I've purchased several of my most recent cookbooks. Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook was a real bargain, $2.68, plus $3.99 shipping. You can't even tell these books are used.

I love my crock pot/slow cooker. It's funny how slow cookers seem to come and go. I've always been a slow cooker fan. Anytime I can come home after a long day at work and dinner is waiting is a good day for me.

I thought the flavors in this stew sounded interesting and delicious. I decided to omit the potatoes and serve over noodles. I totally forgot the peas, until after we'd started eating. I guess I am not used to adding anything to the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time. This was a delicious, thick stew, tasting much better than this picture looks. When I asked Tim what he thought he said, "It was okay but I like your other stew better!" Me, I liked this stew as well, if not better than the other stew. The Refrigerator Stew has a much thinner broth, almost like a chunky soup. This stew was thicker and almost had no broth. It's a comforting and easy weeknight meal.

Mom's Beef Stew
Recipe courtesy of Not Your Mom's Slow Cooker

8 to 12 small, flavorful potatoes, such as Yukon Gold
4 large carrots, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch lengths
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck, trimmed of any excess fat, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, as needed
1 large onion, cut into a total of 6 or 8 wedges
1 large rib of celery, sliced 1/2 inch thick
6 to 8 medium sized mushrooms, cut in half
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of ground cloves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small bay leaf
2 sprigs flat parsley
One 10 ounce package frozen peas, thawed

Place the potatoes in the slow cooker. Top with the carrots.

In a zippered top plastic bag or a bowl, combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper.
Toss the beef in the mixtures, shaking off any excess, and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining meat.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium high heat. Add the meat, being careful not to crowd the skillet. Turn to brown on all sides. Once the meat is brown, using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker.

When all of the meat has been browned and placed in the slow cooker, add the onion, celery and mushrooms. Stir gently to distribute, trying not to disturb the potatoes and carrots on the bottom.

In a bowl or 4 cup glass meausre, stir together the broth, tomato paste, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cloves. Pour into the cooker. If the broth is unseasoned, add salt and pepper to taste. Tuck the bay leaf and parsley sprigs into the stew. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

Discard the bayleaf and parsley. Stir in the peas, cover and cook on HIGH until peas are hot, 10 to minutes.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.