December 1
And Then, Turkey Soup
Menu
- Turkey Onion Soup au Gratin [View Recipe]
Quick View
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- .5 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion
- 1 medium shallot
- 1 medium leek
- salt & pepper
- 2 cups stock
- .5 cup turkey
- .5 cup croutons
- cheese
Instructions
We start by cutting the ends off the red onion, then cut it in half, and peel. We slice the onion and add to a large pot with the butter. We start cooking over medium heat while we peel, halve, and slice the yellow onion and shallot. We add these to the pot, stir, and lower the heat to medium-low.
Next we trim our leek, keeping only the tender light part, and slice. We put these in a large bowl filled with water and swish around to allow the sand to fall to the bottom of the bowl. We lift the leek pieces out to a dinner plate, refill the bowl with clean water and repeat. When the leeks are clean, we lift them out, pat dry with paper towels and add to the cooking onions. We season with salt and pepper, raise the heat to medium, and cook until the vegetables are tender and the onions are getting carmelized (about 5 more minutes).
We add the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes to meld the flavors. We add the turkey and heat through.
Meanwhile, with our box grater, we grate about ½ cup cheese.
We divide our hot soup between three individual baking dishes, top with some of the croutons, and some of the gruyère cheese. We put the three dishes on a cookie sheet and put under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
We are careful to remove each soup to a serving plate with a pot holder, and enjoy.
- Potato Croquettes
- Greek Salad
The big activity today was decorating the Christmas tree. Normally, we get the tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorate it that Saturday. The weather wasn't cooperating, so we had to wait until Sunday (and, unfortunately, until after Grandma left).
Some would find it strange to get the tree that early, but not us. We like the Christmas holiday very much and are always eager to ensconce ourselves in all the trappings.
Another reason for getting the tree early is Christmas cards. For the past three years, we've taken a picture of the kids in front of the tree using the digital camera. We upload that picture to Ofoto.com, and get Christmas cards with them on it. The kids are a terrible bother about the process, but that's the beauty of digital cameras - take 100 pictures and, if you're lucky, you'll get one that works. If not, delete them all, take a break and try again. The kids were younger last year, so we hope they'll do better this year.
Since it's a work day, we don't have time to do the pictures today. We'll give it a try on Friday since Chris is taking a vacation day. No, after a Christmas-y day and a very hearty meal, we head out to one of our little family's favorite destinations - Starbucks. Yes, we're all terribly spoiled, but we must admit that we adore the atmosphere. Tonight we finish up the day with two kids hot chocolates (the kids), coffee (Chris) and a Decaf, Skim, Gingerbread Latte (Robin). Drinks, a shared peppermint brownie, and some Christmas music make for a relaxed end to our getting-ready-for-Christmas day.