Jeff, the A.D.D. Chef

When the weather turns cold I start thinking about soup, the “magical” food that needs only a handful ingredients and water. For the A.D.D.er, soup is another one of those cook-it-and-forget-it dishes. You can’t hurt the soup by leaving it on the stove for too long.

One note about the photo above. When people think of French Onion Soup they think of a bowl of soup with a one inch thick layer of cheese on top. If you need to control your intake of dairy products there is no harm in using just a few slices of cheese. This fulfills the basic French Onion Soup requirement needed for flavor and cheese stringiness. However, if you are still 20 or more years away from clogged arteries then you can create a thick layer of cheese by filling the bowl with broth till it is very close to the top and then placing enough layers of cheese across the top till you’ve sealed it up. But before you can add all that cheese…let’s first make the soup.

INGREDIENTS

Quantities below make enough for about three bowls of soup.

• 1/4 cup of butter or margarine
• 1 large yellow onion
• 32 oz beef broth
• 3/4 cup white wine¹
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 2 or 3 Beef bouillon cubes (optional)²
• At least 4 oz of Gruyère cheese
• 1 baguette (in a pinch…use Italian bread)

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice up the entire onion into long pieces. (See Slicing Onions)
2. Melt 1/4 cup of butter (or margarine) in a large saucepan (3 or 4 quart size).
3. Saute the onions until they are limp and translucent.
   
4. Add the beef broth, water and wine. If you want a stronger flavor, add the bouillon cubes. (I skip the cubes in order to keep the total salt content down. The beef broth itself has a high sodium content.)
   
5. Simmer for 45 minutes.
6. Place a 1/2 inch thick slice of bread in the bottom of an oven-proof crock or deep bowl (these bowls are not expensive and have other handy uses…like for chicken soup. See Set of 4 Onion Soup Bowls.).
7. Ladle the soup into the bowl. The bread will rise to the top. When the soup is near the top…stop.
8. Cut at least four thin slice of cheese and lay them on top of the soup (the floating bread will help to keep them up).
9. Place the crocks in an oven heated to 350 F degrees and wait till the cheese melts (7-10 minutes). Alternately you can place the crocks under a broiler so you get a restaurant-like melted and brown cheese “seal” on top.

VARIATIONS

1. Add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.
2. Skip the cheese altogether. The soup is great all by itself.
3. Use grated Gruyère cheese. This will give you the cheese flavor and may help you to cut down on the quantity of cheese.
4. Toast the bread prior to placing in the bottom of the crock.

Here is a brief histoire of le French Onion Soup.

1. Chardonnay or a Pinot is fine. I’ve learned to avoid “cooking” wine because salt is added to it. [↩]
2. They have a very high salt content and the flavor is fine without it. [↩]

This recipe is perfect for the A.D.D.er who thrives on hyperfocused multi-step processes. It begins with thinly sliced chicken breasts and progresses to a rolling, flouring, egg coating, bread crumb covering and frying process that is topped off with a sauce making and baking process. None of these steps are complicated…but there are many of them.

To make this an enjoyable cooking experience, queue up your favorite music CDs, turn up the volume and get ready to spend about 2 hours cooking. (With experience you’ll be able to cut this time in half.) The recipe below is very forgiving so precise measuring is not required. The suggested quantities will make enough for six people (two pieces per person).

INGREDIENTS

• 12 Thinly sliced chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb. virginia ham or some other flavorful ham
• 1/2 lb. swiss cheese (mild, not pungent)
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 package of fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unseasoned (plain) bread crumbs
• Olive Oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS

To make sure that you don’t forget any of the steps involved in this dish, it makes sense to set up an assembly line.

1. Set up the right side of the assembly line (see below). On the right is the ham and swiss cheese, to the left is the sliced chicken breast.
   
2. Set up the left side of the assembly line (see below). From the right you have the flour which has been mixed with the garlic salt and black pepper. In the middle are two beaten eggs. On the left is the bread crumbs.
   
3. Here is a view of the full assembly line. You will start at the far end (where the ham, cheese and chicken are located) and move to the left. We are now ready to begin.
   
4. Place one piece of cheese on top of one piece of ham and roll it up.
5. Place this ham-cheese roll on a chicken breast and roll up the chicken breast. You should have something like this:
   
6. Roll this in the flour.
7. Roll this in the egg.
8. Roll this in the bread crumbs.
9. Each piece needs to be fried to a golden brown. It is up to you if you want to roll all of the pieces and then fry them or fry them one at a time.
   
10. Place all of the fried pieces in a large tray.
11. In a large bowl mix the two cans of cream of mushroom soup with the fresh mushrooms and white wine. Then cover the chicken with this sauce (see below).
    
12. Bake the chicken for about 15 minutes at 350 F. oven.

Note: Some variations, as noted at What is Chicken Cordon Bleu?, can be to substitute prosciutto for the ham or gruyere cheese for the swiss cheese. We’ve already seen prosciutto used in the Chicken Rollatini and Eggplant Rollatini. Gruyere cheese is often used in French Onion Soup. You might also want to add a small container (16 oz.) of sour cream to the sauce.