Onion bisque, a decidedly humble food, bridges the seasons of winter and spring in a beautiful marriage of overwintered onions and shallots with the new leeks of early spring. While many traditional bisques rely on thickening from cream or a floury roux, this simple onion bisque relies instead on a smooth body of pureed leeks and shallots for its creamy texture and appearance.  Graced by four members of the allium family, the bisque is very faintly sweet with an evolving depth as the flavors of leek, onion, garlic and shallot intermingle.

It’s about this time of year, the late days of winter and the early days of spring, that I evaluate our cupboards, cabinets and cellar.  In preparation for coming season, we run through our stored squash, potatoes, onions, garlic and shallots; we scour the freezer for stray bags of sweet cherries that we may have missed and we make an effort to snack on dried pears, peaches and other food preserved from the year before.  It’s at this time, when we use up all that’s left of the previous season and soups like this onion bisque are formed: a marriage of seasons born from an ever-evolving attitude of frugality.  We don’t want to waste any bit from the previous year’s harvest before entering that of the new year.

The allium family – a grouping of temperate-climate flowering plants gives us the onion, shallot, garlic, leek and chives.  Historically, alliums were classified within the lily family and, undoubtedly, they share a resemblence and may also share a common ancestor.  It’s these plants with their sweet and pungeant flavor, that provide so much depth to cooking – seasoning the base of many dishes and representing an essential component in French mirepoix, Cajun trinity and Spanish sofrito.

Of course, not everyone loves the alliums as much as the French and Spanish.  Indeed, onions and garlic are avoided in classical Ayurvedic cooking while Arab folklore contends that, when the Devil was cast from the Garden of Eden, garlic sprang from his left footprint and onion sprang from his right.  As for me, I relish them all – Devil’s footprint or no, and the pinnacle of my delight in the devilish alliums is this onion bisque which combines four fragrant cousins in one ethereal bowl.

Aside from legend, lore and history, garlic, onions, leeks and shallots as used in this recipe for onion bisque, are deeply nourishing.  Consumption of garlic has been linked to reduction in the risk of stomach and colon cancers as well as cardiovascular disease and hyperlipidemia. It’s also known to help reduce blood sugar and combat the common cold.

Onion Bisque with Frizzled Leeks & Rosemary

a simple bisque of sweet onions, shallots, leeks and garlic

Onion Bisque: Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons clarified butter/ghee (see sources)
• 2 branches fresh rosemary
• 1 large leek, white and light-green parts only, sliced thin
• 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped coarse
• 4 large shallots, peeled and sliced thin
• 4 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 quart roasted chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• unrefined sea salt, as needed
• ground white pepper, as needed
• frizzled leeks (see below), for dressing the bisque

Onion Bisque: Special Equipment

• heavy-bottomed stock pot (buy it online)
• immersion blender (but it online)

Onion Bisque: Method

1. Melt ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet over a moderate flame, then toss in rosemary, sliced leek, shallots and onion.
2. Sweat the onion, leek and shallots in ghee until fragrant and tender, about five minutes, then remove rosemary and discard.
3. Pour one and one-half quarts roasted chicken stock over the tender leeks, onions and shallots and simmer, covered, for twenty to twenty-five minutes.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth and uniform in texture.
5. Stir in vinegar and season with unrefined sea salt and ground white pepper.
6. Dress the onion bisque with frizzled leeks just before serving.

YIELD: about 4 servings
TIME: about 30 minutes

Frizzled Leeks: Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons clarified butter/ghee (see sources)
• 1 large leek, white and light-green parts only, sliced thin

Frizzled Leeks: Method

1. Melt ghee in a cast iron skillet over a moderately high flame, then toss in sliced leek.
2. Fry the sliced leeks in ghee until browned and crisp.  Remove immediately from the pan and serve over onion bisque.

Love this onion bisque? Try these other soups:

	Egg Drop Soup with Duck Seasoned with ginger, shallots, carrots and scallions, this egg drop soup is deeply aromatic.  Take care to choose a good rich stock like this Asian-inspired chicken foot stock which combines chilies, lemongrass and garlic.
	Slowcooker Chicken Soup Simple, nourishing and comforting, slowcooker chicken soup requires only a handful of steps to prepare a mild and soothing dish.

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]]> http://nourishedkitchen.com/onion-bisque-recipe/feed/ 15 http://nourishedkitchen.com/salisbury-steak-recipe/ http://nourishedkitchen.com/salisbury-steak-recipe/#comments Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:19:50 +0000 Jenny http://nourishedkitchen.com/?p=5269

This is not your lunch lady’s Salisbury steak recipe. No.  Not by any means.  In this Salisbury steak recipe, we pair grass-fed beef with earthy oyster and shiitake mushrooms, fresh thyme and mineral-rich homemade beef stock. It’s a luxurious dish – rich and robust.

For a woman who lives food, dreams food, revels in food like I do – there’s a handful of dishes that evoke powerful memories, memories so strong one can almost relive them in tasting the dish.  Preserved lemons and home-cured olives bring me back to my summer in Morocco – whitewashing a children’s center, traveling the ridge of the Rif mountains in a teetering old van.   Just a sniff of cherry-flavored Jolly Ranchers or black licorice-flavored jelly beans, and I’m sitting at the worn wooden table in my grandmother’s Long Island kitchen.  And Salisbury steak takes me back to the grade school lunch room, to science fairs and playing Red Rover during dusty and hot recesses.  And then, a second memory comes.  I’m in college, poor like all college kids – spending money on books and booze, bagging groceries at the supermarket until midnight when I’d settle in for a microwave supper.  Banquet made the cheapest and I could usually buy one for under $1.50.  Oh how it makes me cringe now; though, in all fairness, it made me cringe then, too – and I eventually gave it up to vegetarianism (another bout). Let me tell you now, texturized vegetable protein and vegetable broth does not a Salisbury steak make.  Of course, I learned quick to ditch the processed soy and resolved to eat a whole foods vegetarian diet – lentils and beans, grains and vegetables.

Oh, but what was I thinking!?!  How I wish I had learned about the dangers of soy and read the Weston A Price Foundation’s guided tour for vegetarians before I found my young body (already challenged by pharmaceuticals for a decade) riddled with autoimmune disease, thyroid disease and infertility.

I’m joyful, near blissful to have come full circle in a celebration of traditional foods.  I know better than to deny my body the nutrient-dense foods it craves – even butter and fresh cream and whole raw milk.  I have my reasons for eating red meat, and I cherish my local ranchers who nourish my family and our collective land with grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.  Their work, and the work of other ranchers practicing holistic management, greatly improves the variety and health of local fauna and sequesters carbon in the soil where it belongs.  The animals need the land, and the land needs the animals.  We humans?  We need both.

In this Salisbury steak recipe, we season grass-fed beef with shallots, onions and wild mushrooms before searing and tenderly simmering it in mineral-rich broth.  This gentle practice which imparts moisture to the final dish makes up for what some cooks consider grass-fed beef’s shortcomings: namely, that its leanness makes it tough.  On the contrary, grass-fed beef can be wonderfully tender – particularly so when it’s slowly cooked with plenty of good quality broth or wine as called for in this Salisbury steak recipe.(...)
Click here to read the rest of A Recipe: Salisbury Steak for Grown-ups (750 words)

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]]> http://nourishedkitchen.com/salisbury-steak-recipe/feed/ 28 http://nourishedkitchen.com/onion-gratin-recipe/ http://nourishedkitchen.com/onion-gratin-recipe/#comments Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:37:23 +0000 Jenny http://nourishedkitchen.com/?p=4456

Onion gratin with fresh herbs is one of those special indulgences: fragrant, rich with cream and herbs.  It’s an old-fashioned dish with no pretense.  It’s comfort food at its best: sweet and savory and salty all at once. Warm for the growing chill of mid-September, onion gratin, humble as it is, deserves a place on the holiday table, too.  So print it, email it to yourself or your favorite cook, bookmark it and save it for later.

At market, I came across a crate of stunning Italian red torpedo onions from one of my favorite farmers – and when I first spied them, all elongated and pale purple in color, I knew that they’d find their way to my trusty cast iron skillet for an onion gratin with sourdough breadcrumbs, plenty of fresh cream, a few handfuls of thyme and parsley and, of course, a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano cheese.  I told Betsy just what I planned to do with them all; she eyed me closely and said, “No. No. You must eat these raw.  They have such a good bite to them.”  And, you know, she was right; they do have a good bite – hot, slightly sweet with pleasantly bitter undertones which paired strikingly well with sun-ripened tomatoes for my tomato and cucumber salad.

She was also wrong.

Once cooked, the torpedo onions blossomed with a deep and robust perfume.  Covered in sweet cream, fresh thyme and Italian parsley, and a good coating of tart sourdough bread crumbs, their flavor came alive in the gratin and depth far greater than onions served raw.

An onion gratin is an easy dish, simple to prepare like so many of the best recipes.  Better yet, aside from a mixing bowl for stirring fresh herbs and the crumbs of day old loaf of whole grain sourdough bread, onion gratin requires only a cast iron skillet that can go from range to oven in an instance and to the table too for a decidedly rustic presentation.

Despite Turkish lore that once the devil stepped out of Eden garlic sprung from where he placed his left foot and garlic sprung from where he placed his right, onions are a good food.  Onion is rich in quercetin, and other anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds – some evidence indicates that high consumption of onions is inversely linked to common cancers¹. Moreover, onions benefits beyond an inverse association with cancer; they’re also widely considered to be an immune booster and even an antiasthmatic².  So make this onion gratin with care, knowing it will nourish you – body and soul.

Onion Gratin with Fresh Herbs

Ingredients for Onion Gratin with Fresh Herbs

• 1/4 cup butter or ghee (see sources)
• 8 large onions (about 3 1/2 pounds), preferably Italian torpedo onions, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 2 cups heavy cream (see sources), not ultrapasteurized
• about 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
• about 1/4 cup minced fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 2 cups crumbs from a day-old loaf of whole grain sourdough bread
• unrefined sea salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

Equipment for Onion Gratin with Fresh Herbs

• cast iron skillet (buy it online)
• mixing bowl (buy it online)

Method for Onion Gratin with Fresh Herbs

1. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over a medium flame until it begins to foam, toss the sliced onions into the hot fat and fry them, stirring frequently, until they release their fragrance and become tender and translucent.
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. While the oven preheats, reduce the heat to medium-low, pour two cups cream into the skillet over the onions and simmer them together until cream thickens and is reduced by half, about fifteen minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, stir two cups whole grain sourdough bread crumbs with two tablespoons minced fresh thyme and one-quarter cup minced Italian flat-leaf parsley.  Season the mixture of breadcrumbs and herbs with unrefined sea salt as it suits you.
5. Remove the onions and cream from the heat.  Top them with seasoned breadcrumbs and one-half cup grated pecorino romano cheese.
6. Place the onion gratin in an oven preheated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until the season breadcrumbs and cheese form a nice golden crust and the cream begins to bubble.
7. All the onion gratin to rest for about five minutes before serving.

YIELD: about 6 to 8 servings.

TIME: about 45 to 50 minutes.

MAKE THE MENU: Easy Roast Chicken, Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts with Piima Cream, Onion Gratin with Fresh Herbs, Fresh Pears for Dessert

ALLERGEN-FRIENDLY SUBSTITUTIONS: If you are gluten-free or grain-free, consider substituting the breadcrumbs with 2 1/2 cups nut flour.  If you are casein- or lactose-free, use ghee, grass-fed tallow or pastured bacon fat in place of the butter and 1 1/2 cups roast chicken stock in place of the heavy cream.  Do not include cheese.

1. Galeone, et al. Onion and garlic use and human cancer. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  November 2006. 2. Griffiths, et al. Onions – a global benefit to health. Phytotherapy research. November 2012.

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]]> http://nourishedkitchen.com/onion-gratin-recipe/feed/ 13 http://nourishedkitchen.com/winter-minestrone-soup/ http://nourishedkitchen.com/winter-minestrone-soup/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:14:22 +0000 Jenny http://nourishedkitchen.com/?p=3212 It’s 20 below and the only thing that seems to sustain me through these long, dark, frigid days of winter is a warm, nourishing soup. While broths and thin soups serve a purpose – as an appetizer or beginning to a meal – nothing truly satisfies like a dense, full-bodied soup overflowing with flavorful ingredients: herbs, vegetables and beans.

When prepared properly, a good soup fulfills not only the sense, but also the body. A homemade stock prepared from bones and aromatic vegetables provides trace minerals as well as glucosamine chondroitin, while squash and Swiss chard provide a hefty dose of vitamins – particularly vitamin A. Moreover, this winter minestrone provides a healthy dose of wholesome fats: aromatic vegetables are gently fried in pasture-raised lard which is a potent source of vitamin D which is a particularly important nutrient for the dark days of winter while the soup is served with a dose of fruity, unrefined olive oil at the very end providing antioxidants and vitamin E.

Finish The Meal

• Sprouted Wheat Bread
• Garlic Roasted in Lard & Thyme
• Chicken Liver Pâté with Sage
• Winter Minestrone

Winter Minestrone

Overflowing with vegetables and brimming with nourishing, wholesome fats, this winter minestrone makes for a nourishing, nutrient-dense supper during the darkest days of the year.

Ingredients for Winter Minestrone

(...)
Click here to read the rest of Winter Minestrone Soup (531 words)

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]]> http://nourishedkitchen.com/winter-minestrone-soup/feed/ 12 http://nourishedkitchen.com/nourishing-beef-burgundy/ http://nourishedkitchen.com/nourishing-beef-burgundy/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:20:03 +0000 Jenny http://nourishedkitchen.com/?p=2160

It’s starting to get cold out – stormy and chilly all afternoon – and the aspens are turning gold again.   When summer turns to autumn, my thoughts turn to comfort food: meatloaf, pot roasts, roast chicken and, of course, beef burgundy.   It’s wonderful with the deep flavor of mushrooms combined with robust red wine and grass-fed beef.   A nice, slow stewing keeps the grass-fed beef (which some consider to be tough) tender.

Beef burgundy is an excellent way to use up homemade beef stock with all its micronutrients like calcium, zinc, glucosamine and naturally occuring gelatin while pairing it with other nutrient-dense additions like ghee which is rich in CLA (read more about CLA, disease and diet) and mushrooms which contribute a fair amount of selenium to the dish.

Complete the Menu

Thinly Sliced Salad Turnips & Radishes

Beef Burgundy

Sprouted Wheat Bread

Apples & Pears Sautéed in Butter

Beef Burgundy: The Recipe

This recipe for beef burgundy serves 6.

Equipment Needed to Prepare Beef Burgundy

• Oven-safe Dutch Oven OR
• Clay Cooker (my preference) OR
• Slowcooker or Crockpot

Ingredients Needed to Prepare Beef Burgundy

• ¼ Cup Clarified Butter or Ghee from Grass-fed Cows (see sources)
• ½ Cup Sprouted Grain Flour (see sources)
• 1 lb Grass-finished Beef Stew Meat (see sources)
• 5 Organic Carrots, Scraped and Chopped
• 5 Organic Celery Stalks, Chopped
• 1 lb Organic Mushrooms, Sliced Thin
• 2 Organic Yellow Onions, Chopped
• 3 – 4 Bay Leafs
• Handful of Thyme and Marjoram
• 1 Tablespoon Whole Organic Black Peppercorns
• Unrefined Sea Salt to Taste
• Bunch of Fresh, Organic Parsley for Garnish
• 1 Cup Burgundy or Pinot Noir
• 2 Cups Homemade Beef Stock

Instructions for Preparing Beef Burgundy

1. Melt ghee in   pan over medium heat.   In the meantime, dredge the beef stew meat in the sprouted flour until well-coated.
2. Brown the stew meat in the ghee, and remove from the pan using a slotted spoon.   Place the meat in a covered casserole, clay cooker or oven-safe dutch oven.
3. Fry the mushrooms in the remaining ghee, and pour them plus any leftover fat onto the stew meat.
4. Add vegetables, bay leaf, thyme, marjoram and peppercorns to the casserole.
5. Pour in the wine and beef stock.
6. Bake, covered, at 350 ° F for three hours.   Alternatively, you may toss ingredients into your slowcooker and cook for 8+ hours.