ArcaMax

Your support means the world to me.

As I look back over the past year I have so much to be thankful for.

A year ago this week I was battling COVID. The doctors didn’t know I had it at the time because it was so early in the pandemic. They gave me antibiotics and steroids for the horrible respiratory infection they thought I had. COVID didn’t even occur to them. And there were no tests for COVID in the entire state! I had no sense of smell or taste and at the time they didn’t even know that was a symptom. That’s not fun for a food writer!

I’m thankful for not ending up in the hospital. Over a two-week period, I had my finger on my phone to dial 911 twice. It was a tough decision and a close call, but I made it through it all. It took me a full two months to recover. My ZTeam supported me and we got past that.

While I was recovering our clients stepped up, too, and for that I’m thankful.

As you can imagine I was really worried about our business. Would we survive the lockdown?

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

French Onion Soup Dish

I don’t know exactly how to describe this dish but if you like French Onion Soup you are going to love this. You might consider it a side dish. It would be great with a steak. We just ate it as is and did a meatless dinner. The dish is sloppy, so we ate it from a dinner bowl but it should be fine on a plate, too.

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 Tbl of olive oil
3 medium Vidalia onions sliced thinly
1/2 tsp grated sea salt
A dusting of black pepper or to taste
1/4 tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
9 slices French baguette
2 Tbl flour
1.5 cups beef broth (I use low sodium)
1/3 cup sherry (that’s the magic in French onion soup)
2 cups of shredded gruyere cheese

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

You are going to roast your onions to caramelize them. That’s the easy way. Take out a large cookie sheet with raised sides. Spray the surface with olive oil spray. Scatter your onion rings across the cookie sheet surface. It will look like a huge amount. Don’t be alarmed. They will shrink down while they roast. Sprinkle on your grated sea salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic powder. Cover the cookie sheet with aluminum foil and put it in the oven to roast. You are going to cook them for 45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes. For the last 15 minutes, take off the aluminum foil.

While that’s happening, you can toast your baguette slices. Put them on a cookie sheet and spray them with olive oil spray. Bake in the same oven for approximately eight minutes until they are crispy and beginning to brown. Take them out of the oven and set them aside.

When the onions are done, you’ll transfer them to a medium-sized saucepan. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook for approximately two minutes and then add the beef broth, sherry, and one cup of the grated gruyere. Cook on a low boil for five more minutes so it has a chance to reduce and thicken up a bit.

Now take out a nine by nine-inch oven-proof casserole dish. Pour the onion mixture in and top with the baguette slices. Sprinkle on the rest of the grated gruyere. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove foil. Increase the oven to broil. Broil for just a couple of minutes to brown up the cheese a bit. Maybe two or three minutes. Then let cool down a few minutes before you serve. Enjoy!

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola