Come work in the VEG GARDEN with me...
and a recipe for French Onion Soup
Though not everyone may find this pleasurable, I found myself in the wonderful position last week of watching a lamb be born. Here in Central Washington, we normally don’t find ourselves with cloud cover and drizzly weather, but on this particular day, that is exactly what we had. When I saw one of our Katahdin ewes pawing at the ground (an obvious sign of advanced labor), as a photographer that normally has to battle with blinding light, I was excited at the prospect of sitting in the drizzle and shooting the process in the calm, spring light.
Before long, I found myself huddled up in the shelter with all four of my children, Leica in hand, ready to witness new life enter the world. I never tire of it.
Georgia has named all the lambs this year, all of them herb or weather related - for some reason that makes a lot of sense to a 12 year old. This little white bundle of lamb love is called “Flurry”.
Alas, lamb love is not the purpose of why I’m writing you today. I just can’t help myself from sharing these beautiful moments. Sure there’s afterbirth and a janky fence that needs repairing, but look past that. Look at the life at hand. This is real life remember. We’re far from the Disney version of the farm.
I’ll be sharing on the lambs later this week, but before then, I wanted to invite you to spend some time with me in the kitchen and the garden once again. Where else would I be ever?
Kitchen. Garden. Church. Rinse. Repeat.
Today, we’re spending time cleaning out old beds, planting new spring seeds both in the greenhouse and in the beds directly, as well as using up some of last year’s onion harvest to make some delicious French Onion soup. Right now, I’m intentionally focused on using up the food that we have before this year’s crop comes in strong!
Here’s the recipe…
French Onion Soup
5 onions (about 3 pounds)
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh
2 bay leaves
8 cups homemade beef or chicken stock
4 tablespoons high-quality balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Crusty bread of choice
5 tablespoons (per serving) of grated Swiss, Gruyere, or other melty cheese
Peel and slice the onions in half. Then, cut into thin strips.
Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add in the sliced onions and the thyme. For the next half hour, on medium heat, allow the onions to slowly soften. You will need to stir them and tend to them to make sure they don’t burn at all. If they become too sticky, add in a few more tablespoons of butter. The point here is to slowly allow them to darken and become sticky.
Once the onions are nice and sticky, add in the bay leaves, and stock. Stir and bring to a simmer. Then, drizzle in the balsamic vinegar.
Cover and allow the soup to simmer until you’re ready to eat. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Gently scoop each serving into into an oven-safe dish, such as a ramekin.
Top each ramekin with a piece of crusty bread.
Lastly, top each serving with a healthy serving of grated cheese.
Place all the ramekins on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese is melted and the bread has gotten slightly crusty on the edges.
To make it even more delicious, take the time to toast the bread slices with a generous smear of butter before placing them over the onion soup. When I’m on my A-game, I’ll do that. Today wasn’t about my A-game. Today was about make sure there was food onto table when I came in from the garden, exhausted, and starving.
I hope you enjoy our time together in the garden! Pour a glass, gather up a bit of inspiration, and head to your own little patch of paradise to get your hands dirty!
Cheers,
Shaye