Chefs de France French Onion Soup

When I was in high school (and college) I took many French courses, and really gained a love for the language and culture. French Onion Soup (or soupe a l'oignon) was one of the first French recipes I was given by Madame (my beloved teacher). Though I have never had it at Disney World, I can imagine sitting in Chefs de France, gazing out the windows while watching the fireworks, eating this amazing soup.

Ingredients

¼ cup unsalted butter
6 large sweet onions (about 5 pounds), thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced (I use garlic salt)
½ cup brandy or good red wine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups beef broth, homemade or canned
2 slices (1/2-inch thick) French bread, toasted, per serving
⅔ cup coarsely grated Gruyere per serving (I prefer mozzarella, personally)
S&P to taste

Heat the butter in a soup pot until melted, then add the thinly sliced onions and cook for about 40 minutes, or until caramelized, making sure to stir frequently. Add the garlic and continue cooking for an extra minute. Take the soup pot off the heat and add brandy (I used white cooking wine). Continue cooking until almost dry. Add the flour and stir for about 3 minutes.

Onions with butter

After adding the wine

Then, add slowly stir in the broth (I used bouillon instead of broth. Rule of thumb, one bouillon cube needs one cup of water). Bring the soup to a boil, then lower to simmer and with a cover slightly to the side to let excess steam escape. Do this for about 20 minutes and add salt and pepper to taste.

After adding the broth

Bringing to a boil

The next step is optional. You can either pour soup into oven safe bowls and add cheese and bread and broil until cheese is bubbling. The version I was originally taught is to bake the bread until crunchy (think larger croutons), place it into the hot bowl of soup, and sprinkle cheese on top.

With the croutons

Hopefully you have enjoyed the soup, and will continue to enjoy our recipes with Krystal at www.magicaldismom.com

Yule Log

Merry Christmas everyone! What we're making this month is a yule log (or more commonly known as Bouche Noel) with a yummy peppermint filling, and gorgeous red roses on top. Normally I would make the roses from frosting, but as everyone knows, the holidays are hectic so this time of year is all about producing something quality (and pretty), while simplifying. What I ended up doing was purchasing a few red roses from my local store, and placing them on top of, and around, the yule log to create hints of Beauty and the Beast.

Permet de commencer (lets begin)!

What you will need:

The log
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 tablespoons sherry
Powdered sugar for dusting
jelly roll pan
dish towel

Filling
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 sifted powdered sugar
3 teaspoons peppermint hot chocolate powder

Frosting
2 ounces ghiradelli (or any other brand) unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons of milk

Yeilds 10 servings

Begin by greasing and lightly flouring a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan, and then set aside. Stir together the flour and salt in a small bowl. Then beat egg yolks and sherry in a large bowl on high for about 5 minutes, till the mixture is thick and lemon colored. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating till sugar is almost disolved. 

Then wash the beaters. Beat egg whits and cream of tarter on medium speed till soft peaks appear. Gradually add remaining sugar, 2 tabelspoons at a time, beating on medium to high speed till stiff peaks form (what that means is the tips stand strait). Fold in 2 cup of the egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture. Fold egg yolk mixture into remaining egg white mixture. Fold in flour mixture, and spread in prepared pan. 

Bake on 375 degree for about 12 to 15 minutes, or till top springs back. Immediately loosen cake from pan. Invert cake on to a towel sprinkled with powdere sugar. Roll up warm cake and towel jelly roll style, staring from a short side. 







For the filling all you'll need to do is beat the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and peppermint hot chocolate powder together until soft peaks form. After the roll has cooled, gently unroll and put a generous helping of the filling, and spread eveninly. Then roll the log back up and prepare for frosting.







To make the frosting, create a double boiler effect by putting the unsweetened chocolate into a metal bowel, and placing that on top of a saucepan that has some boiling water in it. Add in the butter and stir until it has evenly melted. After that, stir in the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Remove from stove top, and let cool for a few minutes. Then, it's time to frost the yule log. 



After covering with the frosting,the log effect is created by taking a fork and lightly pulling it through the frosting. Then, place your roses and petals on and around the yule log (I added powdered sugar for a snow effect, and actually prefer it with just the dark chocolate). You are now finit!





Avoir un Joyeux Noel et Bonne Nouvelle Annee (have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)!

Home Adventures of Epcot Style France

Back in December, my dear friend (and fellow Princess Procrastinator), Holly, decided to take me on a mini French Adventure for my birthday. I have always had a love of anything French, and was drawn in to Paris in Epcot. Holly had found a blog by a woman from France (for those interested in reading French Girl in Seattle) who missed home and was looking for local places to help ease her homesickness.

 The blog provided information about all the places to go to feel as though you truly were in France. So, we set out for the town of Madison (which is in Seattle). We started by eating at the restaurant Voila!. The service was incredible, as was the food. Their menu reminded me of Chefs de France in Epcot, and so did our waiter (a student who had spent a year backpacking through Europe).

Incredible menu from Voila!

Bristo Burger avec Brie, Truffle Oil, and Wild Mushrooms

After lunch we proceeded to go to Ines Patisserie for some wonderfully fresh made hot cocoa and pastries. The way the patisserie is laid out, customers can view all of the delectable sweets as they are being made. There is plenty of seating, and bright, inviting colors to just sit and people/pastry watch (think Boulangerie Patisserie, but even more quaint with a small home town feel). 

Holly and I with our hot cocoa's

Right before leaving Madison

Finally finishing all of our treats, we decided to head to City People's Mercantile for some shopping. The Mercantile is located near the U District, and has a wide variety of souvenir type merchandise with plenty of it being French. They were several sections of Eiffel Towers, Le Chat Noir pictures, French travel books (and information for traveling around the world), candles, and much much more.  

There was so much left in the town of Madison to explore that it would have taken us several days to see everything. For more information on all of the Frenchy things to do in Seattle, please go to the French Girl in Seattle's blog. A huge thank you to her for sharing her knowledge of little known places! The day was perfect, and had me imagining myself back at Paris in Epcot once more.

Epcot's Chocolate Crepes

Epcot Crepe with Mia style sauce

Welcome back to our 365 Disney Dining Challenge! As you can all probably tell, by now, I am in love with most anything French, and am always looking for extra excuses to cook the cuisine (or speak the language). So, I decided the perfect way to end this challenge week was by making chocolate crepes, like the ones at the kiosk in Epcot's France. Since crepes on their own are not as yummy as those with a filling, I decided to create my own (if you are just wanting the Disney recipe, stick with the top list of ingredients).


Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sauce (my own recipe, not found at Disney):
8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup of brown sugar (can  use 1/8 to make less sweet)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon of butter
Bananas

Begin by putting all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, and then mix until well blended.The batter will slightly resemble pancake mix, only more on the runny side - for best results, let this mixture rest for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator prior to baking. Then, pour some into a pan and cook on low heat. Watch the crepe, and when you can see the edges starting to turn darker and pull up from the pan, gently flip over and cook for another minute on the other side. Repeat until all crepes are complete.

Combine all ingredients

Should look like pancake mix, but thinner

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and stir over low heat until melted.Remove from heat, and let thicken slightly (I usually prepare my sauce at the same time the crepes are cooking - everything is usually completed at the same time).

Combine all ingredients for sauce

Completely melted down

Once the crepes are finished, slice some bananas and places those slices over the crepes, then ladle on some chocolate sauce and you now have a wonderfully filling desert!

Finit!

Thank you for staying with us on our Dining Challenge journey! Krystal is up next at www.partnersbehindthemouse.com