Smelly Fingers

Sitting at the Dakota Tavern tonight and Sheena finds herself subconciously sniffing her fingers all night. It all started earlier in the day, getting chilled to the bone sitting too close to the door at The Cadillac Lounge watching Canada kick US butt during the second round robin day of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Needing to get warm. So decided to make some homemade French Onion Soup.

Here's Sheena's recipe. Can't remember what book I originally found it in. Have been kind of winging it for the last few years.

1. Get 4 large, or 6 medium sized onions. I like to mix purple, white and yellow or Spanish ones up a bit. Whatever is under the sink or on sale, I guess. Peel Them. If you find a soft mushy one, THROW IT OUT before attempting to cut it. Gag.

2. Slice the onions as thin as you can. Paper thin slices that are transparent. Take a break as needed to rinse your hands, knife and cutting board with cold water. Think about Gunter Grass and ponder the soul-destroying nature of emotional repression during the holiday season.

3. Warm up some olive oil in a big heavy pot. Throw in the sliced onions. Throw in a couple (like, 4 or 5) garlic cloves. Minced.

4. Cook over medium heat. Probably 20 minutes or so. Cook the onions down until they are mushy and somewhat carmelized. Stir to make sure they don't get all stuck to the bottom of the pot.

5. In the mean time, prepare approximately 8 cups of beef stock. At this point, Sheena leaves you to your own devices. Homemade, OXO Cubes, No Name boullion in a can. Each to their own taste. I used OXO. Just leave it on the side of the counter for now. Don't forget to stir the onions while you decide which pot to use for the broth.

6. When the onions are cooked into mush and are lightly browned, add about 2 tablespoons of flour. This will provide a bit of thickness to the soup, and a bit more browny colouring.

7. Once the flour is mixed in and starting to lightly brown, pour in the beef stock. Mix it up. Throw in a couple of bay leaves.

8. Let it simmer for 30-40 minutes. I added some fresh ground pepper. Salt to taste, depending on how salty the broth is if you used cheap artificial stuff.

9. Near the end, I like to throw in a shot of cheap brandy that someone with no taste gave you for a stocking stuffer. None in the house this year, so used a couple shots of Thirty Bench Sherry. Don't know if they still make it though, since acquired by Peller, so maybe find another one.

10. Over on the side, toast some baguette to use as croutons. I slice up three slices per bowl and put them in the toaster. In retrospect, probably better to toast them under the oven broiler. Don't worry, we unplugged the toaster first to dig out the one that fell through the cracks. Or maybe next time I'll just slice them thicker.

11. Spoon the soup into thick heat resistant bowls. Float the toasted croutons. Top with cheese. Normally I like a mix of cheeses, but this time used just Swiss because I left the block of it too close to the stove during cooking and it was getting soft and sweaty and figured I needed to use it up.

12. Broil until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown at the edges.

13. Figure out how to get rid of the onion smell on your fingers for the rest of the night.