Hearty French Onion Soup

I absolutely love french onion soup, it is the best comfort soup on cold winter day. You can either take the drippings from the pot roast recipe from my previous post and just add some more pan-seared onions and let simmer in the oven on 275 for 2 hours. Or... if you want to make it from scratch you'll need...

• 3-4 medium onions cut in quarters
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 tbs all purpose flour
• 32 oz beef broth
• 1/4 cup red wine (optional)
• 1 tsp dry rosemary
• 1 tsp dry thyme

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a medium frying pan and let the onion quarters brown on each flat side. 
2. Melt the butter in medium sized pot on medium-low heat. Add the flour once butter is melted and whisk while it cooks for a minute or two.
3. Pour 1/4 cup of wine (or 1/4 cup of beef broth), whisk.
4. Pour the rest of the beef broth little at a time whisking all the while.
5. Drop the onions carefully into the pot, bring to a boil.
6. Cover the pot and place in oven on 275 degrees for 2 hours. 
7. Serve layered with parmesan cheese shavings and crostini.

Tender Loving Pot Roast and Taters

I went to this amazing eclectic restaurant with my husband when we were dating on our way back from a West MI trip called Graydon's Crossing in Grand Rapids, MI. That is where I first tasted to most tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth pot roast called Carriage House Beef. Ever since I have tried my darnedest to recreate that fabulous meal but have failed miserable. Finally found a recipe, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, that is fool-proof. The meat literally falls apart with the nudge of your fork and the drippings are fabulous to make some gravy for your taters and some real earthy french onion soup. I have to warn you though, this is definitely not FAST FOOD, takes 1/2 hour prep time and 3 hours in the oven.

The recipe for the pot roast is here.

And the recipe for the mashed potatoes is simple:

• 3 lbs red skin potatoes
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup milk (anything but skim)
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the salt.
2. Cut the potatoes in half or leave whole as long as each piece is about the size of an egg. With red skins, leaving the skin in is much more hearty!
3. Carefully put potatoes in boiling water for 30 min. Pierce with knife to check for tenderness. 
4. Once tender, drain the water, return the potatoes back to the pot and start smashing immediately, do not let the potatoes cool. Add the butter, smash. Add the milk, smash. 
5. Smash less or more depending on how creamy or chunky you want your potatoes to be. The potatoes should taste creamy and neutral to pair well with the gravy you make from the pot roast drippings.

Here's what my plate looked like, hope you all try this out for yourselves and ENJOY!