A New Orzo Milestone. A Take on French Onion Soup. It’s About the Fries and Trust.
I made an important discovery this morning. This is the front door mat. I never use this door. I use the side and back doors. I was picking up a package today and for the first time I noticed the cat hair all over the mat. So this is where Orzo has been sleeping.
It’s not a bad spot. It’s covered and there’s a floor vent just on the other side of the door. So if he snuggles up he can probably get some heat.
So, he’s permanently moved onto the property.
He’s a survivor. You’ve got to give him that.
Speak of the devil. He walked over to see what the hell I was being so nosey about.
He walked me over to the driveway and stopped. Rear end facing me but head looking at me. And then…
BLOOP!
He rolled onto his back and showed me his belly. Cat owners know this is a big deal.
You can google what that means, but no worries, I did it for you.
“trust you:
If your cat rolls onto its back and shows you its belly, you should feel honoured. Cats roll onto their backs to show they want a friendly relationship, and to strengthen bonds within the social group. So if your cat does this for you, it shows they trust you, and feel comfortable and relaxed around you.”
I don’t know why he chose the driveway for his declaration of friendship. Our first encounter was September 28th. It’s taken 5 weeks to get here. He’s my best buddy now.
After hanging out with him for a few hours I had to get inside to address a bacon emergency. The meat was getting paler which is the indicator that it needs to all be cooked before it will have to be thrown out.
6 pieces in total. 2 got maple seasoning.
I got an idea for a dish today. I’m not a fusion sort of chef. But I like having “takes” on dishes. Same goes for deconstructing familiar foods etc. But spins are fine. Twists are good.
The idea was a French Onion Fries but as a main dish sort of thing.
Now, I’m not one to brag. But I sliced these damn onions so thin they are translucent.
Mad knife skills, y’all.
Those thin slices will cut the time on the caramelization. You’ve seen me do this enough. Just onions, pinch of sat, pinch of sugar, splash of beef broth at the end. This time I added tarragon because I just don’t use it enough. I did about a 2 finger pinch here.
I made another blonde roux and some sodium citrate for my cheese sauce. I’m not getting into it because I’M TIRED OF WRITING ABOUT IT!
So just scroll back if you missed that.
Roux went in to thicken the “soup.” But it’s going to be more of a gravy. You’ll want to add one of the sweeter vinegars to this. I went with apple cider.
More beef broth. Tasted for salt. It’s good. This part is done.
Next I lightly toasted some bread. I oiled my sheet stone and put a slice of toast. I covered that with some shredded gruyere and put it in the oven at 425f. It took about 5 minutes to melt.
Once melted, I added bacon and put on the top slice of toast wit the buttered side facing up. Once the top was browned I flipped it and browned that side.
Yes, I forgot to photo that.
This will give you the crouton texture but without being un-bite-able. Crunchy outside but still soft interior.
But this is about the fries. Haystack formation. I used the sandwich to buttress up the fries so they don’t fall.
The fries were twice baked so they would stay rigid under all of the sauce.
The cheese sauce was next. The fries held just fine. Just find whatever leafy green you’ve got for garnish although, traditionally, it should be scallions.
I might add, being a sandwich, I don’t think a pickle would be egregious here.
This is a simple, but kind of fancy dish. Good diner food. But I might be tempted next time to go a little more overboard with the sauces and garnishes.
I also could have just made a big ass crouton and served it all over that. But that seemed like I was veering into that deconstructing/fusion territory instead of just a spin or take.
I hope that makes sense.
I’ve got work tonight but today was pretty damn good. The last bit I’ll tell you all is that I did a quick page count on how many pages I had to letter on my graphic novel.
It’s not that bad.
About 15 pages have no dialogue, just sound effects. And all of the pages I lettered to share with you guys online amounted to 34 pages already lettered. So the total number I have to letter is actually 81. That’s some good news!
I’ll tell my cute little buddy Orzo you all said “hi.”
This is my very first pic of him. September 28, 2024.
