French onion soup can’t come from a packet, it cannot be had by a chemical laden powder. It’s essence is steeped with time and a wack load of onions which all melt down to practically nothing. There’s a reason why it’s french, the slow caramelization process is one which only the french could invent. Tried and true this recipe is one that my Grandmother taught me when I was about 10. It’s more of a technique than it is a recipe really. You can’t just fry up some onions and add stock, the depth of flavour comes from a long and slow all day melt down of the onions, perfect for a sunday afternoon or a start in the morning while the grass still clings to its frosty sleeve. Feel like you need a good cry but you just can’t let it out? French onion soup to the rescue, drown your sorrows while twelve onions force the raw emotion out of you, and then just let it melt away, allow the release just like the onions. You’ll see the volume of your onions wilt to 1/4 of their original fullness, what a great example they set.
Tomorrow morning we embark on a journey of epic proportions. A visit to the frozen wasteland of soviet like architecture, dear old Edmonton. While I’m happy to no longer live there, I adore my family and cannot wait to spend time with them. This year we’re having a solstice celebration before my brother and his fiancee depart for her families place. It’s baby Mavs first road trip so my fingers are crossed that he doesn’t learn how to unbuckle himself, as he has adeptly shown in the past. My outstanding procrastination skills have brought me here to this moment where its more important to write about classic french onion soup than it is to pack and get ready. I don’t care, I work best under pressure anyway.
1 baguette sliced and toasted (I used spelt sourdough) (optional)
½ C grated gruyere cheese
½ C grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
In a large, heavy bottomed pot, melt the butter or ghee and add the onions,thyme and bay leaf. Stir and allow them to cook down for at least 3 hours, stirring every so often. Near the end give them a colour boost by amping up the heat for a few minutes and stirring continually.
With the heat on high, add the red wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate, cooking on high for about 2 minutes.
Add the beef stock, salt and pepper to taste and let it all come to a simmer.
Ladle to hot soup into 4 oven proof bowls, set oven to broil.
Top each bowl with a few pieces of toasted baguette and a generous amout of cheese. Place bowls on a baking tray in case of spillage and bake under the broiler until golden brown.
Those days when you wake up and realize the house is an absolute disaster, the plants are thirsty, the dust bunnies are about to come alive and yet all I want to do is cook and make more of a mess. The benefit of working in restaurants is you don’t usually have to do the dishes, creative prowess is unleashed when there’s no dishes involved, I swear. But I won’t let my creative urges be tamed, the dishes can pile up, until eventually someone decides to crank some bouncy tunes and get ‘er done. Until then, there’s this rejuvenating fennel salad speckled with sweet pods of the juiciest pomegranate ever, crunchy green and purple pistachios, salty firm organic feta all drizzled with a simple olive oil, lemon and sesame seed dressing. This salad is amazing by itself but I can only imagine would be the perfect side for lamb shanks or grilled chicken.
I know it’s time to get baking delicious festive treats but to tell the truth I haven’t been struck with the spirit yet. Actually it feels a lot more like March than December and I’m not complaining. Though I do hope there’s a bit of snow in Edmonton when we go for Christmas. By then I’ll likely post 7 cookie and treat recipes in 2 days because my mom decorates to the nines and even if there’s not a flake of snow on the ground it’ll still feel like christmas when we get there. Poor mom, she had to take down all her fake snow blankets and move baby Jesus and the crew over to a higher table so that baby Mav won’t pull them all to their demise. He’s getting pretty agile and his absolute favourite thing is to pull stuff off of high tables, but he’s certainly got some guardian angels watching over him. Yesterday he pulled down a light wicker shelf that had a heavy piece of pottery sitting on it along with my heavy golden snale, it missed him by an inch though I think he learned his lesson as it was quite the shock.
I know these look like yam fries, they are stained orange from the paprika. I think I can safely say they’re even better than yam fries, more of an earthy robust taste that just doesn’t compare. The lime aioli is also spiked with garlic and begs you to drench every fry in it. Recently we ordered our bulk organic vegetables to store for the winter. Being relatively unfamiliar with parsnips, I only ordered 5 lbs. Now that I’ve tasted these I think I’ll be ordering more, the parsnip is a noble vegetable, it may look like a carrot but the texture and taste differ in a palate pleasing way.
We actually enjoyed these for breakfast with sunny side up pastured eggs, a great fuel for a productive happy day. It reminded me of being in some hipster cafe that charges fifteen bucks a plate. Parsnips, in reality are mighty affordable and wholly underrated. I can see the sign outside the bistro right now, “parsnip fries are the new yam fries” I wouldn’t contest.
Now if you want to make your own mayo, which I strongly recommend, check out this post on the easiest most foolproof way to do it. Also, feel free to switch up the aioli, I know not everyone in the world likes cilantro so even a simple garlic aioli would be stunning with these fries, they really are the star of the show.
3 large parsnips, peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
1 Tbs smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp sea salt
2 Tbs coconut oil, melted or preferred cooking fat
½ C mayonnaise
¼ C cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tbs lime juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F
Using a large bowl or ziploc bag, add oil, paprika, cayenne and salt. Add the parsnip strips, cover the bowl and shake until all the fries are evenly coated with spices and oil.
On a large baking sheet lined with parchment, spread an even layer of fries and bake for 30 minutes. For the last 5 minutes turn the oven to broil for extra crispy fries, just watch them closely.
Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and garlic in a jar and shake well.
Serve the mayo drizzle over the fries or on the side.
An attempt was made to ascend one of the remaining remnants of the old growth forests of British Columbia. Up into the endangered Jumbo valley, whose ski resort future is looming within her glory. Though we underestimated the mighty whipping winds which brought a taste of winter and a swelling fondness for the unpredictable. At first our persevering spirits motored forth, with my 7 month old baby strapped to my chest, every step was placed with meaning and my clumsy nature replaced with grace. Meandering up this narrow slippery path, the moment being the only possibility, I squelched the idea that this sort of reckless snowy mountain hike makes me a negligent mother. It’s that kind of domesticated human brainwash babble that I catch myself in sometimes. Our feminine ancestors were certainly out perusing the land daily foraging food with their babies. We did end up turning back, it was a white out and the epic views were smothered in clouds and snow. For now the foraging will happen close to home, until Jumbo welcomes us back next summer. It was an absolute pleasure to reconnect with my sister and our friend, we came home from our hike to a slow cooked boeuf bourgignon which I’m just going to have to recreate and share with you all.
For now I have a spiffy way to roast up brussels sprouts that every the pickiest little turkeys will gobble right up. These caramelized maple almond brussels sprouts and pumpkin will convert any hater, they sure did the trick for me, former loather of all things brussels and J too. The sweet gooey maple crunchy roasted almond bits and slightly bitter minister cabbages speckled with slices of creamy pumpkin- oh it’s just perfection. Honestly I ate these as a meal by themselves today, even baby Mav chowed down. Paired alongside roast chicken or turkey, you’ve got yourselves a colourful healthy side dish and maybe even a new fall staple.
My sweet seeeesta and our friend are coming to visit this weekend! I’m so excited and roasting a huge chicken while I watch every car that passes by. It’s very lovely that they are coming for the weekend since it’s a 10 hour drive. We plan on checking out some hot springs, going fishing and hiking up to the Jumbo Valley, an absolutely stunning mountain pass home to the worlds largest Grizzly habitat. An old guy in town told us a funny story today, he was at the gas station, eating a muffin and bent down to check his tire pressure. He put the muffin down on his trunk and while he was fiddling with the tire, a bear stole his muffin and brushed up against him non-chalantly. Lots of bears around these parts, so hopefully we’ll see a Grizz on our hike, just not too close…
I ripped the last of the kale out of the garden today as the frost is coming soon. What to do with a big bunch of fresh kale? Make a fabulous salad of course, loaded with honey crisp apple slices, parmesan cheese and a tarragon-mustard vinaigrette. It will pair beautifully with our balsamic roast chicken and crispy roasted potatoes.
The beauty of flatbread is that there are no limits. You could choose to make a creamy garlic spiked chili avocado mash with smoky red wine chorizo like I did (it’s delicious I promise) or you could use this simple flatbread to soak up egg yolks, scoop hummus,slather with nut butter and apples, roll chicken and greens into a wrap. You know I could go on for at least 12 paragraphs about all the things you can do with a versatile grain free flatbread such as this. But I won’t, that would be annoying and your a lot smarter than that, I know you have your own 12 paragraphs of ideas.
Every culture has some variation of flatbread, scooping up saucy dishes with bread is synonymous with happy times. Aish Merahrah in Egypt, Bammy in Jamaica, Bannock in Native American culture, Bazlama in Turkey, Bhakri in Pakistan, Bing in China, Bolani in Afghanistan, Chapati and Naan in India, Farl in Scotland, Flatkaka in Iceland, Green Onion Cake in China, Himbasha and Injera in Ethiopia, Khanom bueang in Thailand and Cambodia, Lavash in Armenia, Lefse in Norway, Malooga in Yemen, Pane carasau in Italy and Sardinia, Pita in Greece,Qistibi in Tartarstan, Tortillas in Mexico, Tunnbröd in Sweden and Taftan in Iran. There is something innate within human beings that needs flatbread in its dietary spread. Before modern agriculture Native people made similar types of bread using acorns and other nuts and seeds growing wild. This paleo flatbread is akin to the latter, a higher protein more nutrient dense flatbread which will leave your human flatbread desires securely quelled. Soak up the goodness friends.
Now I want to tell you a short but beautiful story, since I’m certain you’ll have lots of time seeing as this flatbread recipe whips up so quickly. There is a village in Iran, where they sit at night and eat Taftan together by the fire. A mother and a father go off to work in the fields for the day, leaving their infant and young toddler with the neighbour girl to look after them. As they walk home from their day the young girl runs up to them, frantic, terrified. The little boy is missing, she was distracted by the baby and lost sight of him. He’s gone. Nowhere to be found. They turn the village upside down, inside out and everyone joins in the search. A day goes by and they haven’t found him yet, a sleepless night for the young parents. The next day they travel to the next village, everyone joins in their search, high and low they look. No boy, another night filled with despair. On the third day the father rounds up some men to go looking in the high mountains. The likelihood of a 16 month old baby getting so far from home is slim, but the will of a parent is impossible to break. They search every cave, every nook and cranny. Then they hear it, a faint whimper, a delicate weeping child, from deep within the cave. It smells of bear and they know it is a den, but they can hear the boy. The men enter, and they find the young boy nestled up against a mama bear, nursed and smelling of milk. Unharmed, the mother bear found the boy and fed him, protected him, and by some miracle the missing baby boy was safe and sound.A gentler universe than this one it seems, but it happened, only a few years back. I can only pray if my baby ever gets lost, that a mama bear will find him.
Inspired by the original paleo naan bread recipe at my heart beets.
3 Ingredient Paleo Flatbreads with Avocado and Chorizo
Author: Chantelle
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
Makes 2 large flatbreads or a bunch of wee ones
Ingredients
½ C tapioca flour
½ C finely ground almond flour
1 C coconut milk or raw milk
pinch of sea salt
oil or ghee for frying
2 avocados, mashed
glug of olive oil
pinch of salt
½ jalapeño chili, finely chopped
1 clove garlic,minced
a few strips of bell pepper
½ a chorizo sausage, finely sliced
Instructions
Heat a large frying pan and melt some ghee or other fat source, when the pan is nice and hot, add half the batter and spread it around by tilting the pan in all directions. Turning the heat to medium,let it get nice and bubbly and golden brown, flip and let it get golden on the other side.
Mash the avocados and mix in the olive oil,garlic,chili and salt.
Top the flatbreads with this mix and adorn with peppers and chorizo, you could also sprinkle some green onion or parsley, whatevers on hand.
Repeat with a million different topping/dipping variations.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
