Onion Soup: French Style

      3 lb Onion; peeled
    1/2 c  Butter
  1 1/2 ts Pepper, black
      2 tb Paprika
      1    Bay leaf
    3/4 c  Flour
      3 qt Beef bouillon
      1 c  Wine, white
      2 ts Salt
    1/2 lb Swiss cheese
           French bread

Slice onions, 1/8 inch thick. Melt butter, place onions in it, saut# slowly for 1 1/2 hours in a large soup pot. Add all other ingredients except bouillon, wine and salt, saut# over low heat 10 minutes more. Add bouillon and wine and simmer 2 hours. Adjust color to a brown with caramel coloring or liquid browning sauce. Season to taste with salt. Put in refrigerator overnight. To serve: Heat soup. Fill ovenproof casser#le or individual oven- proof bowls with 1 cup soup, top with 3 one-half inch slices of French Bread and top with a slice of imported swiss cheese (Gruyere preferred). Place under broiler to brown, approximately 5 minutes at 550 degrees.


Yield: 8 Servings

French herb swirl

--BREAD--
      1 c  Buttermilk
    1/4 c  Water
    1/4 c  Margarine or butter
      4 c  All-purpose flour
      2 tb Sugar
      1 ts Salt
      2 pk Active dry yeast
      1 ts Poppy seed

--FILLING--
      2 tb Margaine or butter
    1/2 c  Minced onion
      1 tb Chopped parsley
      1 ea Clove garlic, minced
    1/2 ts Salt

In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm. In a large bowl combine heated liquids, 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in additional 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour to form a soft dough. On a floured surface, knead the dough untill smooth and elastic. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Grease a 12 cup fluted tube pan; sprinkle with poppy seeds. In a small saucepan saute onion in butter till lightly browned; stir in remaining filling ingredients Punch down dough; roll out to a 16x8-inch rectangle. Spread filling to abou 1-inch from edges. Start with the longer side, roll up tightly and seal edg Form into a circle and seal ends. Place in prepared pan. Cover and let rise about 15 minutes or til doubled in size. In a preheated 400F oven bake 20 to 30 minutes or untill golden brown. Remove immediately from pan.


Yield: 10 Servings

Croquembouche (4)

--PUFFS (PATE A CHOUX--
  1 1/2 ea Sticks unsalted butter
  1 1/2 c  Water
    1/4 ts Salt
      1 ts Sugar
  1 1/2 c  Flour
      6 ea Large eggs

--GLAZE--
      1 ea Egg beaten with 1 tsp water
      1 ea Pastry Cream (Creme Patissie
      6 ea Egg yolks
    1/2 c  Sugar
    1/2 c  Sifted flour
      2 c  Milk, scalded
      3 tb Butter
      1 ts Vanilla
      2 tb Cognac
      1 ea Pinch salt

--NOUGAT--
      2 c  Sugar
      1 ea Juice of 1/2 lemon
  1 1/2 c  Toasted finely ground almond

--CARAMEL--
      2 c  Sugar
    2/3 c  Water
      2 tb Corn syrup

Use Pastry Cream (Creme Patissiere) for filling. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. To make the puffs, melt the butter in the water with salt and sugar over low heat. Remove from heat and beat in flou with a wooden spoon until completely mixed. Return to heat and stir vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes. Mixture will form a mass, and a film will form on bottom of pan. Remove from heat and, one by one, add eggs, beating vigorously after each addition. Using a pastry tube with 1/2-inch opening, form puffs on a buttered baking sheet. Glaze each puff with the beaten egg and water, using a pastry brush Smooth the top of each puff. Put in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and pierce each puff with a sharp knife. (This allows the steam to escape so that the interior of the puff is not soggy.) Return to the oven for 10 minutes more. Cool puffs on a rack. While cooling, prepare pastry cream. To make the cream, beat the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar, until mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the flour. Add the hot milk in dribbles, reserving 1/2 cup for thinning. Return to pot in which milk was scalded, and stir mixture over high heat until it comes to a boil. It will become lumpy first and then will smooth out with vigorous stirring. Be careful not to scorch the bottom of the pot. The cream should be thick, bu add milk if too thick to pipe. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp at a time. Flavor with vanilla, cognac and salt. Cool completely. Inject the pastry cream into the puffs with a 1/4-inch pastry tip. To make nougat, melt the sugar with the lemon juice in a heavy pot. Do not stir. Boil together until a thick amber syrup is formed. Stir in the almonds and spread the mixture on an oiled marble slab while warm. Cut wit a sharp knife into a round for the base, and into small triangles for decoration. Keep nougat warm in a 250 degree oven. (It cannot be cut or shaped if it hardens.) To make the caramel, bring the ingredients to a boil over high heat. Do no stir. Cover pan (allowing steam to dissolve any crystals that might form). Uncover pan and boil several more minutes, until syrup is amber. Reduce heat to keep syrup from hardening. Dip the filled cream puffs, one by one, into the caramel syrup and arrange on the nougat base, forming a cone resembling a pyramid. The caramel holds the cream puffs together. Note: Assemble the croquembouche the day of the party, as it cannot be refrigerated. However, the cream puffs, pastry cream, and nougat can be prepared in advance.


Yield: 20 Servings

Croque-en-bouche (3)

      2 c  Cold milk
    1/2 lb Unsalted butter
      2 ts Salt
  1 1/2 tb Sugar
      3 c  Flour
     12 ea Eggs
      1 ea Vanilla bean
      1 ds Salt
  4 1/2 c  Milk
      8 ea Egg yolks
      3 c  Sugar
    2/3 c  Flour
      1 ea Caramelized almonds
      1 ea Caramelized orange slices

From Paul Bocuse's French Cooking. Pastry that crumbles in your mouth. Method: Place milk, butter, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, add the flour, dry the dough on the heat for about 4 minutes, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Butter the pastry sheets, put the dough into a pastry bag, and pipe 60 small puffs onto the sheets. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Cream Filling: Steep a vanilla bean with a pinch of salt in 4 1/2 cups milk; in a bowl, mix the egg yolks with 1 1/2 cups sugar and then add the flour; stir into the milk with a whisk and cook over a low flame for a good 5 minutes; use to fill the puffs. Heat 1 1/2 cups sugar until it melts and turns caramel color. Oil the inside of a cone-shaped mold. Dip the puffs into the caramel. Starting from the point, stuff the whole mold with puffs, each one dipped into caramel. Let cool. Unmold. Decorate with caramelized almonds and caramelized orange slices.


Yield: 10 Servings

Croquembouche (2)

--PUFFS--
  1 1/2 ea Sticks unsalted butter
  1 1/2 c  Water
    1/4 ts Salt
      1 ts Sugar
  1 1/2 c  Sifted all-purpose flour
      6 ea Large eggs

--GLAZE--
      1 ea Egg beaten with 1 tsp water

--MOCHA CREME PATISSIERE--
      6 ea Egg yolks
    1/2 c  Sugar
    1/2 c  Sifted all-purpose flour
      2 c  Milk
      3 tb Unsalted butter
      2 oz Semisweet chocolate
      2 ts Instant expresso with 2 tsp

--CARAMEL--
      2 c  Sugar
    2/3 c  Water
      2 tb Corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 425. To make the puffs, melt the butter in the water with salt and sugar. Remove from heat, add the flour, return to heat and beat vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes. (A film should form on the bottom of the pan.) Cool slightly, and add eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously. Using a pastry tube with a 1/2 inch opening, form 1-inch-high mounds, 3/4 inch in diameter, on parchment-lined baking sheet. Glaze and smooth the tops. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and golden. Cool on racks. To make the mocha cream, beat the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar, until mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the flour, Scald the milk and add in dribbles, reserving 1/2 cup for thinning. Return to clean pot and stir vigorously over high heat until mixture boils and thickens. If it seems too thick to pipe, add reserved milk. Remove from heat. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp at a time. Melt the chocolate and add to mixture with the expresso. Just before assembling croquembouche, inject the cream into the puffs with a 1/4-inch pastry tip. To make the caramel, bring sugar, water, and corn syrup to a boil over high heat. Do not stir. Cover pan until steam dissolves any crystals. Uncover and boil 5 minutes, or until syrup is amber. Remove from heat. Dip the bottoms of the puffs, one by one, into the caramel and arrange in a pyramid Cut the tip from a balloon whisk, dip into caramel, and whirl strands of caramel around croquembouche to form a spun sugar web.


Yield: 8 Servings

Croquembouche (1)

--PUFFS--
  1 1/4 c  Water
    1/2 c  Plus 2 Tbsp butter
  1 1/4 c  Flour
      5 ea Eggs at room temperature
      2 c  Cream whipped stiff

--CARAMEL--
      1 c  Sugar
    1/3 c  Water

--CHOCOLATE--
      6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate
      4 tb Butter

Use cream whipped stiff with sugar and vanilla, to taste. Such a gorgeous dessert - you say it "croak-em-boosh" - you'll need a pastry bag with a 1/4" tip to fill the tiny puffs with whipped cream. Preheat oven to 375. Boil water and butter together. Remove from heat, ad flour all at once beating rapidly till dough forms a ball. (If it doesn't, put it back over medium heat and keep beating.) Cool 7 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating frantically after each till dough is smooth. Butter and flour cookie sheets and drop by small teaspoonfuls 2" apart and bake 16 minutes until brown and puffed. Put a little slit in each one, put them back in oven for 10 minutes more. Cool completely. Fill them from bottom with whipped cream. Refrigerate till ready to assemble. Make the caramel and pile puffs into a pyramid using caramel as glue - dip bottoms. Make th chocolate and dribble it over all. CARAMEL FILLING: Bring to a simmer - swirl pan till sugar dissolves. Cover, bring to boil, when bubbles are thick, uncover and swirl till light brown - remove from heat. CHOCOLATE TOPPING: Stir constantly over low heat till melted. Sauce will harden as it cools.


Yield: 12 Servings

French fritters (beignets)

      1 c  Water
    1/2 c  Butter
    1/4 ts Salt
      1 c  Sifted enriched flour
      4 ea Eggs

Heat water, fat, and salt to boiling. Simmer until fat has melted. Reduce heat as much as possible without eliminating it altogether. Add flour all a once. Stir briskly until mixture forms a ball that no longer leaves the sid of the saucepan, but no longer. Remove from heat. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until mixture is stiff and glossy. Drop by spoonful into deep, hot fat (370) and cook until delicately brown. As soon as they are cooked enough on one side, they will turn themselves over. Remove when browned on both sides. Drain and sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar. If desired, cut a split in each and stuff with marmalade or chocolate filling.


Yield: 12 Servings

French onion soup

      5 ea Onions, sliced
      2 ea Cloves garlic, diced
    1/4 c  Butter
      1 ea Vegetable bouillon cube
    1/4 c  Soy sauce
      5 c  Water
    1/2 c  Grated Parmesan cheese
      4 ea Slices french bread

Toast and cube the french bread. Saute onions and garlic in butter until onions are clear. Add bouillon cube and soy sauce. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or let sit overnight for flavors to blend; or freeze. Next, add water and let simmer another 15 minutes. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with toast cubes, and Parmesan cheese. Serve when cheese is melted. Makes 6 Servings of about 1 cup each.


Yield: 6 Servings

French omelet

      3    Egg
      1 tb Butter

Mix eggs slightly. Heat butter in a small skillet until brown. Quickly pour eggs in. Stir lightly until set on bottom. Let stand over heat a few seconds to lightly brown bottom. Fold in half. Season with salt and pepper.


Yield: 2 Servings