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Julia Child's Soubise Recipe (Onion & Rice Casserole) |
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Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Naturally Gluten Free. Vegetarian.
COMPLIMENTS!
- "...it is fantastic!" ~ HeatherCheryl
- "... the family had only one comment: double the recipe next time!!!" ~ Anonymous
- "OH.MY.WORD." ~ Pamela
- "... could easily have eaten the whole dish, it is so delicious." ~ dejadru
- "This is easy and delicious!" ~ Barb
An American Icon.
When Norman Borlaug died at age 95 last fall, it saddened me that his life’s work was vilified. Borlaug was the Midwestern scientist who championed modern farming practices across the world, not unlike, isn’t it so? the indigenous American peoples who bioengineered corn and potatoes millennia before. Borlaug’s work in agronomy, genetics and plant pathology is credited with saving a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
Then there’s St. Louis’ own Monsanto, the company whose Round-Up and genetically modified (GMO) seeds evoke controversy. In 2006, Monsanto formed a vegetable and fruit seed division to develop new strains of broccoli, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, melons and more.
First out of the dirt is a mild onion called EverMild introduced this month by Monsanto and St. Louis’ largest grocery chain, the family-owned Schnucks Markets. I attended a media lunch where chefs prepared an all-onion meal, everything from caramelized onion pizza and French onion soup (delicious!) to a fruity onion sorbet (no thanks).
Call Me Conflicted.
Nobody stands up for kohlrabi, say, like Kraft stands up for Kool-Aid. Nobody stands up for green beans, say, like General Mills stands up for Golden Grahams.
So when science and investment produce higher-yielding, disease resistant, longer-lasting, better-tasting or more nutritious vegetables and fruits, isn’t that what we ask and expect from American ingenuity? Isn’t that a sign of human progress, not a certain problem?
If it takes a company the size of Walmart versus the passion of Whole Foods (see “The Great Grocery Smackdown” from this month’s Atlantic) to save small family farms, can we allow the possibility that the Monsantos of the world must be afforded the chance to contribute?
Thoughts, readers? Do we want companies to stand up for fruits and vegetables? Can we afford to? Can we afford "not" to?
But Soubise Is a Must-Make.
No debate about Julia Child’s recipe for Soubise [pronounced soo-BEEZ], the onion and rice side dish: it’s fabulous. My friend Anne Cori calls it "French risotto without the stirring" but the rice almost melts into the noodle-like strips of onion.
Come to think of it, yes, with eyes closed and tastebuds open, there’s a mac ‘n’ cheese dimension to soubise, a swanky grown-up mac ‘n ‘cheese, for sure, but mac ‘n’ cheese nonetheless.
Pair it with meat, a roast chicken, say, or thin slices of rare beef tenderloin or even as the "starch" with a weekend pot roast or brisket. Last week, I served it with Moroccan Chicken, twas dreamy. For New Year's Eve, my husband cooked steaks on the grill and I made Soubise, just wow.
Cooking with EverMild Onions.
- The onions are supposedly tearless but in my experience, not. Because I wear contacts, I never have trouble crying over cut onions but with EverMild, I did, so did two others who helped cut vegetables for a family birthday party. (I know, I know, this is a bad sign.)
- EverMild onions are "long day" onions for harvest in the fall, sold up until March, when Georgia’s famous Vidalia onions, "short day" onions harvested in the spring, become available.
- For the moment, EverMild onions are only available at Schnucks Markets in St. Louis.
- More about EverMild Onions and St. Louis’ only newspaper doing investigative journalism, Riverfront Times.
Bookmark! PIN! Share!
How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If Julia Child's Soubise hits the mark, go ahead, save and share! I'd be honored ...JULIA CHILD’S SOUBISE RECIPE (ONION & RICE CASSEROLE)
Time to table: 90 minutes
Makes 4 cups
- 2 cups salted water (or enough to cover)
- 1/2 cup rice (see TIPS), rinsed well
- 4 tablespoons butter (2oz/60g/half a stick, see TIPS)
- 2 pounds (900g) onions, trimmed, peeled and sliced very thin (see TIPS)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Gruyère (about 1 ounce), (see TIPS)
Heat oven to 300F/150C.
RICE Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the rice and cook for exactly 5 minutes. Drain immediately.
ONIONS Melt the butter on medium heat in a large oven-safe skillet (see TIPS) with a lid. Drop in the onions as they’re prepped, stirring to coat with butter. Let gently cook, stirring every so often to avoid burning. Once all the onions are in, briefly sauté them.
Stir in the rice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
BAKE Cover and bake for an hour, stirring once or twice. Remove from the oven, stir in the cream and cheese. If the rice is still a little undone, return to the oven for 10 – 60 minutes (see TIPS). Serve and savor.
MAKE-AHEAD TIPS Soubise can be made ahead of time and then reheated for serving, no loss to quality.


















An Alanna-Style French Menu
Olivada on Crostini
Fast Roast Chicken
~ Julia Child's Soubise ~
(recipe above)
Ratatouille
Salad Greens with My Favorite Dressing
Lemon or Coffee Pots
~ more French recipes ~
Homage to Julia Child
~ Julia Child's Blender Hollandaise ~
~ Julia Child's Cucumber Salad ~
~ Julia Child's Lentil Salad ~
~ Julia Child's Cream of Zucchini Soup ~
~ Julia Child's Yellow Squash Coconut Soup ~
from A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables
~ Mastering the Art of French Cooking ~
(affiliate link)
Fall In Love with Onions
(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)~ more onion recipes ~
Shop Your Pantry First
(helping home cooks save money on groceries)~ onions ~
~ rice ~
~ cheese ~
~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~
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Hei, I've been to Schnucks Market :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of soubise, but I LOVE onions (I cannot imagine cooking without them - they add such a great flavour to most dishes, when handled properly). Bookmarked!!
Pille ~ I wonder how many people from Estonia could say the same thing, at least about Schnucks Market?! But you'll laugh to hear that when I was thinking about what 'other' onion dishes, your whole-roasted red onions were all that came to mind!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try this!
ReplyDeleteI’m betting those EverMild onions are GM. No brainer, Alanna. I cannot trust Monsanto.
ReplyDeleteYour description of Monsanto is surprisingly mild. They are far from mild which is why millions of people are anti-Monsanto and their Nazi like operations. From bankrupting farmers to poisoning third world countries, they operate with an undeniably UN-American ethic.
ReplyDeleteChopping onions is how I start so many meals in my house! Sometimes I don't even decide what I'm doing until I've already diced my onions and garlic. This recipe looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteA big THANK YOU for this recipe! Made it last night and it is fantastic! You are my favourite recipe site on the web!
ReplyDeleteHeatherCheryl ~ Shedding a little tear, not onion tears but nonetheless ... thank you!!
ReplyDeleteAlanna,
ReplyDeleteThis whole blog post is blowing my mind. I was in that class at Kitchen Conservatory and was too lazy to find my recipe packet. I googled soubise and this was one of the first results! I'm making this for a dinner party this weekend. (Also, the last time I made risotto, I asked my husband to stir for me while I prepared the rest of the meal and he wondered why anybody would ever make risotto. I told him I had a foil to that!)
In response to the comments, my great grandfather was from Estonia, and I've visited my extended family in Estonia, and I shop at Schnucks every week! ;) More coincidences!
Loved your post, but have pretty mixed feelings about Monsanto. Living in St. Louis, it's hard to criticize a corporation that provides so many jobs, and you do raise a good point about encouraging the consumption of healthy fresh produce. However, Monsanto's main mark on the modern industrial food culture is on corn. Not the juicy vegetable we buy in the summer, but the inedible commodity that is mostly made into high fructose corn syrup and food for beef cattle. I'm not sure how healthy THOSE things really are. Fortunately, they sell onion goggles at Kitchen Conservatory, so I can use the onions nature made with no tears.
-Katrina
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/140/Crop-nutrient-levels-drop.html
ReplyDeleteThis article will point you to a 44 page report on falling nutrition levels in food since we have gone for quantity over quality as Norm Borlaug started the world running after. Nutrition in wheat has severely fallen. No wonder we are getting fatter all the time. We eat like crazy trying to get the nutrients we need that the food no longer supplies. And taste. Conventional can't compare to organic--surprised me, but I'm sold on it now.
No worries from me, I missed this the first time around. It sounds wonderful, I love roasted onions so know I will like this. Onions and cheese, what's not to like?
ReplyDeleteTrie this the other night - the family had only one comment: double the recipe next time!!! So I plan to - and add a bit more arborio rice.... Loved the flavor and texture - used a good gruyere cheese whack is my favorite! Loved this - and to think I made a "Julia" recipe that didn't take several hours to prepare/cook. thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that I have celiac disease, and I've been looking for some serious comfort food to replace my first true love, macaroni and cheese.
ReplyDeleteThis is in my oven right now... well, half of it is, anyway. I ate the first half after adding the cream and the cheese (before putting it back in the oven) because OH.MY.WORD. I couldn't help myself.
Praise Jesus for Julia Child.
Your adulation of Monsanto sullies every other word or idea in your blog. What an insult and a disgrace to mention them and Julia Child in the same article.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous ~ I do not offer "adulation" for Monsanto, in fact, I state outright that I am conflicted. I know many abhor their work. I'm on the fence - primarily because I know that the scale required to feed the world will NOT happen one farmers market or one heirloom tomato at a time. We need companies with the wherewithal of Monsanto to change food production on a world scale.
ReplyDeleteNext time you write, please use your real name and email address, no need to hide behind anonymity. Open discussion is allowed here although bullying is not. Your views are welcome, so long as you do not mock mine nor others. I'm reminded of a book I shared with my godson when he was a bossy four-year old, it was called, Who Made You the Boss, Banana Monkey? I'm not the boss but neither are you.
I loved this... could easily have eaten the whole dish, it is so delicious. I believe you could just use whatever onions you have on hand, though some work better with the mandoline. (By the way, I am glad I kept trying to use this intimidating tool, as the first couple attempts weren't pretty, but I got the hang of it and rather like it now.)
ReplyDeleteDejadru ~ That’s the “danger” of such good food, right?! :-) And I totally agree about the mandolin being intimidating but there’s nothing quite like it for slicing vegetables so perfectly. Thanks so much for writing!
DeleteThis is easy and delicious!
ReplyDeleteRe your comment on using less butter, I once remember watching Julia on TV. Her most memorable quote for me: "For those of you who are afraid of butter, and I know you're out there . . . you can use cream!"
ReplyDelete