What’s for Dinner?

A newsletter for home chefs about food, cooking, and enjoyment of food

February 6, 2025

I haven’t posted new recipes for a while; it’s been a super busy winter for me. I developed a new Baking with Confidence course! It was so fun but also a lot of work, figuring out what information I should zero in on when teaching people how to bake, which techniques to practice during classes, which recipes to pick to illustrate key concepts. I must say, I am very excited about it! I hope people will sign up and find it useful.

But let’s get back to cooking! What to cook in the winter when the weather is absolutely freezing (record low temperatures here in DC!!) and all you want to do it curl up by a fireplace or a radiator? Well, soup, of course! I find soups and stews the most comforting of all cold-weather dishes.

French onion soup is one of my favorites to make in the winter. It’s easy enough to make although it does take a bit of time and requires some particular ingredients. Here are the ingredients:

2-3 large onions, thinly sliced into half or quarter moons
3-4 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ cup white wine
2-3 qt beef broth
Salt, black pepper to taste
Slices of baguette or any good bread
2-3 oz gruyère cheese, grated

The key to this soup is the quality of the four main ingredients: onions, beef broth, bread, and cheese. For the onions, I prefer Vidalia - it’s mild and sweet. I make my beef broth from scratch, but any good purchased one will do, as well. It must be delicious by itself. For the bread, I like to use either baguette or my homemade sourdough, but any other artisanal bread will be fine - just no sandwich bread, it won’t survive the submersion in the broth. Finally, gruyère is the cheese to use because it is not stringy and is sweet, complementing the onions really well. You can use Swiss, of course, like restaurants do to save on cost, but it won’t be as good.

The method is simple: cook onions in butter in a heavy casserole for a very long time (25-30 minutes), then add flour and cooking for a minute. Gradually add wine while stirring to dissolve the flour, and then add broth. Season with salt and pepper and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 min. In the meantime, slice the bread and toast in the oven (3-4 min per side on 400F). Have enough bread to cover the surface of your casserole or individual oven-proof bowls. Grate the cheese.

Increase the oven to 450F. Lay toasted bread on top of the broth in the casserole and cover with grated cheese. Bake, uncovered, until the cheese is melted and starting to brown, about 5 min. Let cool off for a few minutes before serving, to allow all the flavors to set. Et voila! Bon appétit!

What’s for Dessert?

Now, what’s for dessert? Let’s stick with the French theme. How about some crème brûlée? It’s really easier than it looks! To make 4 portions of crème brûlée, you will need 4 fresh egg yolks (at room temperature), 2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/4 cup of sugar. You will also need 4 ramekins (6 oz) and a deep enough baking tray to house the ramekins in water up to half of their height.

The recipe is simple. Boil a kettle of water and set aside - we will need it in a few minutes. Preheat the oven to 325F. Now combine egg yolks with sugar and gently mix with a whisk or a fork (no whipping here). Then take your cream and heat it up in saucepan to almost simmering but not boiling; add vanilla and mix it in. While whisking, pour a little bit of hot cream into the egg yolks/sugar mixture. You need to continuously whisk or the egg yolks will cook! This process is called tempering. In this manner, pour about 1/4 of the hot cream. At this point, it is safe to unite egg mixture with the rest of the cream: just pour it into the remaining cream while gently whisking. That’s it - you just made a custard!

Pour the cream/yolk/sugar mixture into the four ramekins. Place ramekins into a baking tray and pour hot water into the tray, enough to get to the half of the ramekins’ height. Carefully transfer into the oven (middle rack). Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the custard is set but still jiggles when moved. Take ramekins out of the water and leave to cool off. Once they cool, put they in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, sprinkle 2-3 teaspoons of sugar on top and broil it either with a kitchen torch, or under a broiler. It’s a toughest part since not many people have a kitchen torch, but using the oven to broil the sugar is tricky - you need to do it quickly so that the custard does not warm up, and carefully so that the sugar caramelizes but does not burn. If you love crème brûlée, it’s best to get a kitchen torch - you can buy one on Amazon for less than $15. Here is a video showing how to caramelize sugar using a kitchen torch. Leave it to harden for about 30 seconds, and then serve!

FoodFirst Updates

The spring schedule has been posted! I have exciting new classes coming in the spring - in addition to the Baking with Confidence course, I am offering fresh pasta class, sushi class, Thai cuisine class, Mediterranean cuisine, and how to cook delicious fish class. In-depth descriptions will be posted on the Master Chef Classes webpage soon. Check out the schedule and please share with your networks! I rely on the word of mouth to advertise my classes.

Gift cards are also available in our store, consider them as a holiday or birthday gift. It’s an experience, education, and a meal, all wrapped in one!

Also a reminder that FoodFirst is finally on google maps! If you took a class and would like to leave a review, please go here.