Snow Day
The grumbling began on Monday.
Snow go away! Ugh, no snow. Yuck.
Hello…it’s the middle of December in the mid-Atlantic. We get snow. No matter how much you complain, whine, kvetch, snivel, and moan, we’re still going to get snow. Shout fake weather all you want, but there’s no getting around the Nor’easter that has already begun its moisture dump upon us.
The next four months offer the opportunity for white stuff to fall from the sky in varying amounts. With all the shelter-in-place practice we’ve had this year a few days hunkered down inside with a steaming cup of tea or a mug of cocoa should be a piece of cake. And it’s not like we didn’t have fair warning to prepare for it. By now we should have plenty of toilet paper, be well practiced in making bread and experienced in assorted dairy product preservation practices. You all know you can freeze milk, right?
For farmers, we have an added layer of preparation making certain all our ducks are in a row and deeply bedded in fresh straw to ride out the storm. I have spent the last few days setting out extra hay, fortifying shelters, topping off water tanks, and fixing equipment that will allow me to keep the driveways clear. All the extra fuel jugs and propane tanks are full. Snow shovels are out of the basement and strategically located. Even the flashlights have fresh batteries.
Being nestled in for a few days, even if unexpected though, does not mean one is destined for canned or frozen rations, even in the dead of winter. Much of the fresh produce available at the market right now lends itself to longer storage—weeks, even months if stored properly.
While the first major snow of the season has occurred in the middle of the week, there’s always the chance of similar circumstances happening on Saturday or Sunday which might result in closed markets. Even when markets are open the guaranteed presence of vendors may not happen as weather conditions differ greatly within the radius from which we all travel. For instance, I’m slated for as much as 14 inches of snow out of this system while most of my customers and fellow vendors south of the Mason Dixon line will barely see an inch or two, instead getting rain.
Despite white out conditions, today I’m enjoying the quintessential winter delight of French Onion Soup. Not the watery concoction out of a can with a few onion segments that look more like a dead tapeworm. The homemade stuff is easy to make and includes caramelized strips of translucent bulbs that fill each spoonful along with an occasional chunk of beef, bread, or browned cheese. The real beauty of French Onion Soup is that all the ingredients can be stored for winter, ready to go at the drop of a snowflake.
I’m not a purist when it comes to the classic French Onion Soup recipe, preferring to include a winter staple—fennel bulb—to add depth to the flavors of the four different onions that have been sauteed into a thick mess using the tallow skimmed from the beef broth. Most recipes call for the use of sherry or wine to unlock the beef flavor, but I’ve also found that a cup of good beer will suffice. Apple cider is phenomenal for a non-alcohol version adding a sweeter lilt. Where I most deviate from directions is the baked cheese on top. I don’t have the lionhead bowls in which French Onion Soup is traditionally served nor do I bake it in the oven to melt and brown the cheese. My hack is to toast the bread with cheese on top in the ancient toaster oven that once belonged to my grandmother. While a gob of melted cheese is always a delight, this way the flavor of a hunk of dried cheese that has been wrapped in a ball of foil carries through on each spoonful instead of awkwardly trying to balance a bite-sized blob.
The best part about French Onion Soup on a day like today is it works both ways. Eating a bowl prior to venturing outside for the first pass on the driveway and to check on the livestock will provide enough added fuel to help keep warm. You have to put fuel in the furnace before you turn it on, right? At 27 degrees (feels like 16), leaving the pot on low is a welcoming relief after stripping off several layers, a few of them soaking wet. Forget the spoon. I want to wrap my numb fingers around the bowl and shamelessly slurp.
And if any of my fellow vendors had a big leek under their truck last Sunday, don’t worry—it’s in my soup.
Sandra’s French Onion Soup
Made with ingredients found at Central Farm Markets
Ingredients:
1 large leek, halved and sliced
1 large sweet onion, cut in thin strips
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
½ fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 quart beef broth
3 tablespoons olive oil or butter if there is no fat from beef broth
1 pound beef short ribs
Seasonings—black pepper, star anise, bay leaf, dried herbs like tarragon, rosemary
Thickly sliced bread, stale works fine
¼ cup grated cheese, Pecorino, Parmesan
Directions:
If the beef broth has a fat cap, remove it and place in a sauté pan. Otherwise, add butter/oil and heat on medium. Brown short ribs. Remove from pan and set aside. Add onions and fennel to sauté pan. Cook on low until caramelized—approximately 30 minutes. In another pot, combine beef broth, seasonings, and short ribs. Simmer while onions are caramelizing. Remove short ribs, debone, and tear into bite sized chunks of meat. Strain seasonings from broth. Combine meat, broth, and caramelized onions into one pot and bring to a simmer. Slice bread in 1-inch slices. Top with cheese and toast until cheese is browned. Cut into slices, add to bowls and ladle in soup. Enjoy!