Onion Soup

I know, I know...you are thinking, "Why the heck would I want to make soup when it's so stinkin' hot outside?" I had the same thought...but then I made it anyways. It was a combination of having all the right ingredients, wanting to use my Walla Wallas before they went bad, wanting to make something new, and...well, boredom.

So last night, after the girls went to bed, I decided to make this soup. I had ripped the recipe out of those original Everyday Food magazines, and it had been in that stack I told you about before. It's a very simple recipe, and it only took about an hour from start to finish. I halved the recipe since I only had four good onions. The original recipe calls for serving it with Cheese Toasts, but I just poured it over some toasted Italiano bread that I had left over from the night before.

I'm giving you the whole recipe, which claims to serve 8. I would guess from how much I left from my half recipe, that that would be 8 small servings. If you are going to serve this as your main dish, I would guess that you shouldn't expect more than 6 healthy servings out of it.

2 TBS butter
2 TBS olive oil (I actually forgot the oil)
4 lbs onions (about 8), halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup port or Marsala wine (I used port)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) beef broth
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) chicken broth

1. In a heavy 5 quart pot, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, 12 to 15 minutes.

2. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are dark golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. If bottom of the pot gets too dry, add about 1/4 cup water and scrape up browned bits with wooden spoon. (I had to do this twice...I think I probably added about 1/8 cup of water at a time. But then again, I forgot the oil, so that might explain the need for the water.)

3. Add the port and cook until syrupy, about 3 minutes. (I'm not sure what "syrupy" is supposed to look like. It never looked syrupy to me...just purple. I waited until it didn't seem watery.) Stir in broths and 2 cups water, season with salt and pepper, and bring to simmer. Serve with or over bread or cheese toasts.

Initially, I thought the soup had too much liquid to onion ratio, but I realized that when I poured it over the bread, every bit of liquid was sopped up. So, I guess the ratio is ok. And it was really really tasty.

Enjoy! (But I understand if you don't want to be a freak like me and make this in the summer. Go ahead and wait until the weather turns cooler!)

Pesto Pork Chops

Last week I found myself with an abundance of fresh basil leaves. I didn't complain-I LOVE tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella with a touch of oil olive. But those few leaves I used everyday were not going to get me through the bunch of basil before it went bad. I needed something else for the basil.

I had found a pesto recipe that J really likes a month or so ago, so I made that again. The trouble was, I didn't want it with pasta again, and we had just had pizza, so I didn't want to make that. I had thin cut pork chops thawed, but the idea of pesto with pork chops didn't sound fabulous.

As always, I looked to the Internet first. I searched "pesto pork" and sure enough, there were hundreds of recipes out there. So, I decided to take a risk. I pan cooked the pork chops in a bit of olive oil, and when they were just about done, I spooned pesto on each one, covered it, lowered the heat, and cooked it for another 5 minutes or so.

They were delicious. And the summer squash with caramelized Walla Walla onions I served with them paired well. (Of course, I did also have tomato, basil and mozzarella as another side dish, because really...I can never get enough.)

One note of caution...as always with pork chops, it's easy to over cook them. One of mine was thicker than the other two, so it was perfect and the thinner ones were a tad on the dry side. Still good, but could have been a bit more moist.

Here's the pesto recipe I used:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced

In food processor, pulse together basil and nuts 3 or 4 times quickly. Add garlic and pulse again. While processor is on, pour in olive oil. Add Parmesan cheese and mix until blended.

Chocolate Summer Squash Bread

I've been getting a lot of summer squash in my farm box lately. I'm not complaining...I love it. Especially when sauteed up with some caramelized onions...super tasty. But I wanted to try something different, and specifically something that my children might eat. (Summer squash is definitely one that they turn their nose up at.) I figured they'd eat the squash if it was hidden in a baked good, so I started looked for Zucchini Bread recipes. Then I stumbled across this chocolate summer squash bread recipe and the search was over. I found the original recipe here. The first time I made it, I followed all directions, except I substituted white whole wheat flour for regular flour. You couldn't tell the difference at all.

Now, I have to be honest. The word "bread" is misleading. This isn't bread. It is cake. You will feel guilty eating this for breakfast. That didn't stop me from eating it then, but I did feel guilty. But if it makes you feel better, you can keep calling it "bread."

Even with the whole wheat flour, I was still feeling badly about the amount of oil and sugar that was in the bread/cake. So today, I added a few more chocolate chips for sweetness, took out 1/2 a cup of sugar, and substituted 1/2 a cup of apple sauce for some of the oil. Since I'm not eating the two side by side, it's too hard to tell if this one is as moist or as sweet. I can tell you that it's still delicious and will be great with vanilla ice cream, so I'll stick with this recipe since it makes me feel better.

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 applesauce (I used unsweetened)
2 cups grated summer squash
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate until melted. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated summer squash, vanilla and chocolate; beat well.

Sift in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir to blend. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Do not overbake.