Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker - Lynn Alley [25]
2 pounds tomatoes, coarsely chopped
½ cup dry white wine
6 cups water
4 to 6 slices country bread, well toasted
½ pound Gruyère or Tomme de Savoie cheese, diced (about 1 cup)
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and butter and sauté the onions over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. (I find it easiest to do this in two batches.)
Salt the onions lightly, then sprinkle them with the flour and place them in the slow cooker insert. Add the tomatoes, wine, and water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the onions are quite soft and flavors have had a chance to meld.
When you are ready to serve the soup, adjust the salt to your taste, place a slice or so of bread in the bottom of each soup bowl, then toss in some of the cheese. Ladle some hot soup and vegetables over the top of the bread and cheese and serve.
SUGGESTED BEVERAGE: I would enjoy either a dry, acidic white wine such as an Alsatian Pinot Gris or Riesling, or a good, fruity mountain red.
COLD PROVENçAL WHITE BEAN SALAD
Serves 6 to 8
One of the things I enjoyed most on my first visits to France were the cold rice and bean salads. They seemed so simple, and the only rice and beans I had eaten at home were hot and served in soups or casseroles, or under some creamed meat. Here is a typical French-style cold white bean salad.
2 cups dried small white beans
6 cups water
¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, pressed
4 green onions, green part only, very thinly sliced
1 cup Mediterranean-style olives, pitted and halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 to 8 large lettuce leaves
2 small tomatoes, cut into wedges, for garnish
Thoroughly rinse the beans and place them and the water in the slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the beans are tender. Quickly and gently pour them into a colander and drain them. (You can reserve the cooking water and use it to thicken soups or stews.) Transfer the beans to a serving bowl.
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, mustard, and garlic. Blend thoroughly with a whisk or an immersion blender.
Pour the dressing over the beans and mix thoroughly. Add the green onions, olives, and salt and pepper to taste, and toss by hand (or if you must, using spoons).
Serve either chilled or at room temperature on lettuce leaves and garnish with the tomato wedges.
SUGGESTED BEVERAGE: A chilled Tavel rosé would be nice.
SCALLOPED POTATOES AUVERGNATS
Serves 4 to 6
Few countries do potatoes and cheese as well as France and Switzerland. Raclette, scalloped potatoes, pommes de terre dauphinoises, whipped, or whatever, a couple hundred years of potatoes and cheese and a knack for cooking have made them experts at the many comforting ways these two inexpensive, favorite ingredients can be combined. The Auvergne is a region in south-central France known, among other things, for its popular blue cheese called Bleu d’Auvergne.
3 or 4 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
¼ cup all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ pound Bleu d’Auvergne, Stilton, Roquefort, or domestic blue cheese, grated, thinly sliced, or crumbled
1½ cups milk or half-and-half
Arrange a layer of potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker insert, then sprinkle about 2 teaspoons flour and ¼ teaspoon salt evenly over the layer. Place several small dots of butter on the layer. Then sprinkle on a tablespoon or two of cheese.
Repeat, adding layers of potatoes topped with flour, salt, butter, and cheese, until all the potatoes have been used up. (One large potato yields about one layer.) End with a plain layer of potatoes, but save a bit of cheese for a final layer later. Cover and cook on low for about 3 hours.
Remove the lid, pour the milk over all, top with a last layer of cheese, recover, and cook for 1 to 3 hours longer, or until all the potatoes are tender. Do not be afraid to stir the potatoes very gently as they are cooking. When you spoon them out of the insert they will become disarranged