Sud de France Festival

On Monday night, I attended the Sud de France Festival at the Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club at South Street Seaport. What would have been a rainy, cloudy night turned out to be a nice, but chilly evening with live music, free wine, and appetizers.

This night was the kickoff night to a festival lasting until the 29th to celebrate food and wine from France (especially from the Languedoc-Roussillon region). You can find out more about the event here.

I was not sponsored for this post -- just thought it would be a fun event to go to with some friends. And it turned out amazingly!

  

Here is a little bit of what I recorded from the live music -- a cover of  "C'est Si Bon".

Then there were these fun cutout boards which we all took a turn in -- we each got our mini Polaroid. So hilarious!

Of course, we ended the night by indulging our inner childhood by having dinner with milkshakes at Johnny Rocket's, haha. 

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Inspirational Tuesdays #117

Last night, I attended the Sud de France Festival (which I'll be posting about soon) and this inspirational tuesdays is inspired by just that -- food, friends, sunlight, wine. Yay to the beginning of summer :)

All collected images were found randomly online. Click on image to view source.

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French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

5-6 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (3-4 small ones)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat, mostly because it was there)

1/2 cup + dry white wine (I used a chardonnay)

8 cups mushroom stock (low sodium, if you can find it)

2 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

1 to 2 cups (to taste) grated Swiss*

8 to 12 1-inch thick rounds French bread, toasted until hard

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the bottom of a stock pot over medium to low heat.

2. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat some more, cover, and walk away. No, seriously, go away. The onions don’t need you right now. What they need is a 15 minute break. It’s not you, it’s them.

3. After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat to medium-low, and stir in the sugar (it helps draw out the water and helps the caramelization process). Let the onions caramelize for the next 30 or 40 minutes, but make sure to stir them often. If they start crisping, lower the heat. You want them to be dark golden brown, but they have to stay soft.

4. After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle the flour over them and cook for about three minutes, stirring the whole time. Next, add the wine. If you used wine in the last step, I still want you to use the full 1/2 cup. There is no such thing as too much wine with your caramelized onions. Also, use the wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot (read: scrape up all the brown bits of flavor from the bottom of the pot).

5. Add the stock and the water slowly, stirring as you go. Once all of it is in, bring the soup to a simmer and let it do it’s thing for another 30-40 minutes, partially covered. Your soup is now done. In fact, it’s delicious. It’s also vegan, so if you don’t eat cheese, please enjoy this amazing soup right now. It’s amazing. For those of you who do eat cheese.

6. Toast your French baguette rounds until they’re hard (but not browned, so set them in your toaster on a very low setting and keep an eye on them). Take a stick of butter/margarine and lightly coat both sides of each round.

7. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place your oven-proof bowls on it. Ladle some boiling soup into them.

8. Top each bowl with as many slices of bread as you will fit, and cover those with cheese( see cheese note above). Place in the oven for 20 minutes, then put it on broil for an additional three, or until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

9. Remove the bowls from the oven If you want, sprinkle on dried oregano or herbs de Provence.

http://theinventivevegetarian.blogspot.com/

Tofu Cordon Bleu

A block of tofu
1/2 pound Gruyere, grated
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Morning star Bacon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup panko bread crumbs
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
Extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the tofu between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the tofu to 1/4-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet of plastic and lay 2 slices of prosciutto neatly over the top to cover the tofu and sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over the morning star bacon. Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight like a jellyroll inside the plastic wrap. Squeeze the log gently to seal and twist both ends tight to form a nice log. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Mix the bread crumbs with thyme, garlic and kosher salt, pepper, and melted butter. The butter will help the crust brown. Beat together the eggs and season so the flour, the eggs and the crumbs are all seasoned.

Remove the plastic wrap. Lightly dust the chicken with flour, dip in the egg mixture and gently coat in the bread crumbs. Lightly coat a baking pan with olive oil and carefully transfer the roulades onto it. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until browned and cooked through.

Vegatable Mix Ratatouille

Ingredients

• 2 onion, sliced into rings/3 cloves garlic, minced/1 medium eggplant, cubed/2 zucchini, cubed/2 medium yellow/ squash, cubed/2 green bell peppers, seeded and cubed/1 yellow bell pepper, diced/1 chopped red bell pepper/4 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped/1/2 cup olive oil/1 bay leaf/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley/4 sprigs fresh thyme/salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions & garlic, until soft. In a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the zucchini till slightly browned on all sides. Remove the zucchini and place in the pot with the onions and garlic. Saute remaining vegetables one batch at a time, adding 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet each time you add a new set of vegetables. Once each batch has been sauteed add them to the large pot as was done in step 2. Season with salt and pepper. Add the bay leaf and thyme and cover the pot. Cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and parsley to the large pot, cook another 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove bay leaf and adjust seasoning.