Barefoot Contessa Party: Onion & Fennel Soup Gratin

I was most excited about making this one. Ina explains that this is her take on french onion by "turning up the volume" with fennel. It was so good. The recipe calls for 4 tbsp unsalted butter, 1/4c olive oil, 3lbs spanish onion, 2lbs fennel (core removed), 1/2 c dry sherry, 1/2 cognac or brandy, 1 1/2 c dry white wine, 8 cups beef broth, 3 bay leaves, 1tbsp kosher salt, ground black pepper, sliced sourdough, 6 oz grated Gruyère cheese. The soup takes a good amount of time to make but probably the most labor intensive part is slicing the onions and fennel--5lbs total is a lot! It was well worth it though. Definitely going to make this again. All and all I would say the Barefoot Contessa party was a delicious, fun and cheese-y success.

Shana tovah from QCC!

Ari and I co-hosted a Rosh Hashanah dinner and it was, I must say, to die. As you can see, my first spread was hors d'oeuvres: I made vegetarian chopped liver, a recipe Ari gave me that his grandmother makes. Served with crackers, hummus, pita chips and carrots. Then, our first course was an amazing matzah ball soup that Ari made--it really was just like your grandmother's chicken soup, only better. For the next course, we served a beautiful chopped salad (Ari's genius idea). He made a homemade dressing from ingredients readily available in my kitchen: honey (for a sweet new year!), two different kinds of mustard (yellow and whole grain dijon), olive oil, and chopped basil. He whisked all this together into one of the best dressings I have ever had. I can't say enough about how awesome this salad was.
For the main course, I made two roast chickens with roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans sauteed in soy sauce and garlic, and sesame noodles. Overall, the dinner was a great success, and the leftovers kept us happy for the next few consecutive meals.

Shanah tovah!

Thank you to my amazing Grandma who got me the beautiful cracker dish and serving plate used for my hors d'oeuvres, and to Adam's mom for the wonderful Jewish star trivet seen in the salad photo.