Oui Love Soup!

In honor of it being National Soup Month, we rounded up a list of the soups that we've featured on the blog thus far.  So if you're experiencing some frigid weather like we are, you can opt for the warm soups.  And if you're lucky enough to be in a warmer climate, you can go for the cold soups.  Something for everyone!

Hot soups to warm you up...

* Butternut Squash Soup

* Tomato Soup

* Sizzling Rice Soup

Cold soups to cool you down...

* Chilled Pea Soup

* Gazpacho

And if those aren't enough, we're coming at ya with a hearty French onion soup to get through these winter months.  This recipe came from our friends at WellFed Hospitality Group when we attended their first Feastly dinner, a meal paying homage to Julia Child. (you can read about another Feastly meal here)

You'll want to start by thinly slicing 10 onions.  Our onions were quite large, so we only used 8.

While you're slicing your onions, you can crisp up about 1/4 cup of bacon.  Once they've crisped up, add your onions to the pot, along with about half a stick of butter.

As you can see, our stock pot was overflowing with onions.  From this stage, it will take a good 45 minutes for your onions to cook down and caramelize.  As best you can, try to toss your onions around so they all get coated in butter, and cook through.  As they cook down, they'll release a lot of water, which needs to evaporate before your onions can really caramelize.

As you can see, they cook down quite a bit, and turn a nice golden brown color.  At this point you can deglaze your pot.  The recipe calls for a splash of brandy and some white wine, but we didn't have any on hand.  Instead, we used some Boatswain Chocolate Stout that we had on hand.  The beauty of this beer is that for just $1.99, you get a 22oz. bottle of pretty decent beer.

Once you've deglazed your pot, add in 2 quarts of beef stock and some thyme.  To help give it a richer flavor, we also used some veal demi glace.  Let this simmer and reduce for about 20 minutes.

One of my favorite things about French onion soup is the bubbly covering of cheese that covers the bowl.  Since we don't own any of the little crocks like restaurants have, we had to improvise.  We picked up a nice loaf of French bread and toasted some slices, each topped with a little pile of gruyere cheese.  Once the cheese had melted, they were nice little croutons to float on top of our soups.  We also sprinkled some cheese directly into the soup and let it melt in.

Although caramelizing onions takes a while, the end product is well worth it.  You're entire house/apartment will end up smelling like caramelized onions (even my bath towel picked up the scent!), but it's a delicious, hearty soup that will get you through the cold winter months.

Le Diplomate

Lately we've done a good job of visiting new restaurants and crossing them off our ever growing list of places to try.  Le Diplomate was one of those places, and it certainly lived up to all the hype!

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Walking into the restaurant, you're transported to a Parisian bistro, filled with globe lights, a checkered tile floor, and the aroma of freshly baked breads.  They also have several tables outside for you to enjoy some al fresco dining.

Once seated, we began to peruse the menu, filled with traditional French bistro fare.  We were presented with a bread basket, filled with an assortment of breads, to whet our appetites.  We decided to start the meal with their selection of 7 cheeses that included a goat cheese, 2 varieties of brie, a bleu cheese, and a couple semi-hard cheeses.  Overall, they were quite tasty, and a perfect way to kick off the meal.  Like any French restaurant worth its sel, La Diplomate has a wine list that doesn't disappoint.  There is a wide selection of French bottles, and there are some exquisite choices by the glass as well.  Our server was helpful in recommending both a red and a white to pair with our meal.  Being this was French cuisine we went with French wines.

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For our entrees, I chose the moules frites, prepared in the mariniere style.  It is a traditional white wine sauce, that had great added flavor from fresh thyme and bay leaves, as well as some butter to round out the broth. My only complaint is that they left the sprigs of thyme and the bay leaves in the broth.  The frites were perfectly crisp on the outside, and fluffy on the inside, just the way fries should be.

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Justin went with the Monday night special, veal sweetbreads, as his entree.  They were served on a bed of greens.  They were really flavorful, but he enjoyed the ones at the Red Hen more.  Our dining companions enjoyed the steak frites and the beef bourguignon, commenting that they were both delicious dishes as well.

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Dinner was rounded out by a couple of desserts.  We couldn't visit a French restaurant without trying their creme brulee, and it didn't disappoint.  The portion was pretty large, and easy to share amongst several people.  The top was a perfect golden brown, while the inside was extremely light and creamy.  We also shared the apple tarte tatin.  The apples were nice and carmalized, yet still had some bite to them, while the pastry of the tarte was very light and flaky.

Overall, it was a delicious meal, though the service was a bit slow.  They definitely weren't trying to rush us through our meal, which I liked, but it could've been paced a tad bit faster.  The food itself lived up to all the rave reviews the restaurant had received upon opening, though the atmosphere really stole the show.  You truly feel like you're on some cafe set from a French film.  Even for a Monday night it was very lively.  This isn't a romantic spot per se, but a great place to enjoy some authentic French food with some friends over a bottle of wine or two.  We will definitely be back to check out brunch or some of the other nightly specials.