French onion soup

I've been in France for ~1.5 years now, and I haven't had a real French Onion Soup. Shame on me (or not)? Anyway, as Sylvie mentioned several times that she was eager to have that once, I decided to surprise her with a bowl of warm soup.

Even though I don't like onion (especially because it's hard to digest and can easily give you an inconvenient afternoon or evening), I was one hundred precent satisfied with this meal. And I just understood that cooking the onion quite a long time makes them easy for the stomach... small enlightments every day :-)

This recipe makes 2, so if you want to serve a family, make it double.

French onion soup
Ingredients
2 smaller/average white onions
1 Tbsp flour
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup Champagne (or white wine)
1 cube veggie soup base
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper
Cheese crouton: French baguette and grated cheese
(for a vegan version, use your favorite seasoning or simply leave the cheese out)

Preparation
Slice the onions, as thin as you can (or, I'd say, 1-2mm is enough). In a thick-bottom pan, heat the oil and add the onion. After about one minute, turn the heat down, and caramellize the onion 30 minutes. Stir just ONCE or twice maximum during this 30 minutes. Don't worry, if your saucepan is good enough, it won't burn.
Add the flour, cook for about 1 minute and then add the champagne. I used champagne, but you can use white wine as well (not a big difference). Add the soup base - I usually use the veggie cube I buy at the organic store, with 2 cups of water added, but if you have soup in your fridge, you can use that as well. Add the bay leaves, salt and pepper, and cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Now as the soup is ready, let's prepare the croutons. Slice your baguette and toast it in your oven. Pour evenly the soup in your bowls and place the toasts on top of them. Grate cheese over them and finally: bake them in the oven until the cheese starts to turn golden.

Let them cool for at least 15 minutes, and then serve with a cool spoon and a warm heart :-)

Whirled spaghetti

Whenever you are out of ideas as what to put in the ingredients while inventing new recipes, you can always vary your existing ones as how to prepare them. This is the same I did and the outcome was surprisingly tasty and eye-candy.
The principle of this meal is to put the already-cooked spaghetti rolls in an oven pan, preferably with some fresh vegetables and cover them with either cheese or your favorite vegan sauce. Believe me, it will be quite a surprise...

Spring spaghetti rolls
Ingredients
500g spaghetti
4 big tomatoes
150g fresh mushrooms
1 small sweet pepper
5-6 tbsp olive oil (+ some for the oven pan)
2 cloves of garlic
fresh or dried basil
100g cheese or vegan cheeze
salt


Preparation
Begin by making the spaghetti. Once it's cooked, stir a few drips of olive oil in it to avoid getting sticky.
Take a medium sized saucepan, and heat the olive oil. Quick fry the sliced tomatoes for a minute, then turn to lower heat and cook them with the mushrooms. At this point, I used to add 1-2 tsp salt and some oregano. In case you are lucky enough to have fresh basil in your kitchen, you can add them later (or eat with the salad you may prepare with the spaghetti rolls), but if you use dried basil, you may add it now. After a few minutes, add chopped garlic and pepper, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
In an oven pan, make the spaghetti rolls using a fork and a bigger tablespoon. I suggest using some olive oil to sprinkle on the bottom of the pan, just to make sure your food won't stick to it. Once the sauce is done, pour a little on each roll and finally cover them with grated cheese.

I like to add halved cherry tomatoes on each roll before covering them with cheese. If you are vegan, you can either use some vegan cheeze or anything that fits the tomatoes (you can leave them uncovered even).

Serve with fresh salad and some good wine :-)