French Onion Soup (recipes) and octave (iou)

French Onion Soup (recipes)

Cook Time: 8 hours

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

4tablespoons butter, divided

3pounds yellow onions, sliced

1tablespoon sugar

2to 3 tablespoons dry white Wine or water (optional)

2quarts (8 cups) beef broth

8to 16 slices French bread

1/2cup (2 ounces) shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese

Preparation:

1.Melt butter in large skillet over medium to low heat. Add onions; cover and cook just until onions are tender and transparent, but not browned, about 10 minutes.2.Remove cover. Sprinkle sugar over onions. Cook and stir 8 to 10 minutes or until onions are caramelized. Add onions and any browned bits to 4-quart slow cooker. If desired, add Wine to pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits with wooden spoon. Add to slow cooker. Stir in broth. Cover; cook on LOW 8 hours or on HIGH 6 hours.3.Preheat broiler. To serve, ladle soup into individual soup bowls; top with 1 or 2 slices bread and about 1 tablespoon cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Variation:

Substitute 1 cup dry white Wine for 1 cup of the beef broth.

Other ways:

Serves 10 – 12

Soup:

¼ cup butter

2 lb. thinly sliced yellow onions

1 Tbsp. flour

2 quarts chicken or beef stock

salt & pepper to taste

2 cups dry white Wine

French bread

Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated

Melt the butter and cook the onions slowly in an uncovered saucepan until they are transparent and golden. Add the flour and stir, cook for 3 minutes longer. Add the stock and simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Season with salt and pepper, add Wine.

Serve in soup bowls over the rounds of bread. Pass the Parmesan cheese.

French bread:

1 loaf French bread, cut into 1” slices

oil

a cut clove of garlic

Bake cut slices at 325º 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cover each slice with oil after 15 minutes and finish Baking, then rub with garlic clove.

octave (iou)

octave noun & verb. In sense A.1 also utave. ME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin octava (sc. dies day) fem. of octavus eighth, from octo eight. See also UTAS noun.]
A. noun.
1. Ecclesiastical. The seventh day after a festival (the eighth day when counted inclusively). Also, a period of eight days beginning with the day of a festival. Orig. in pl. ME.
2. Music. An interval embracing eight notes on the diatonic scale, the highest note having twice the frequency of and the same alphabetical name as the lowest; a series of notes or instrument keys etc. extending through this interval. Also, the note an octave below or (usu.) above a given note; two notes an octave apart sounding together. Cf. EIGHTH noun 2. L16.
V. Brittain My hands were too small to stretch an octave easily. K. Amis His voice was..an octave higher than she..expected.
b. An organ-stop sounding an octave higher than the ordinary pitch; a principal. E18.
c. Physics. An interval, analogous to the musical octave, between two electromagnetic waves one of which has twice the frequency of the Other. L19.
3. A group or stanza of eight lines of verse, an octet; spec. = OTTAVA RIMA. L16.
4. Fencing. Orig. (now rare) octave parade. The last of eight recognized parrying positions, used to protect the lower outside of the body, with the sword-hand to the right in supination and the tip of the blade pointing at the opponent's head; a parry in this position. L18.
5. = OCTET 3. E19.
Tit-Bits The..tallest brother of this remarkable octave.
6. A small Wine-cask containing an eighth of a pipe, 13 1 / 2 gallons (approx. 61.4 litres). L19.
Phrases: Law of Octaves Chemistry (now Hist.) the principle according to which, when the lighter elements are arranged in order of their atomic weights, similar properties recur at every eighth term of the series; also called Newlands' Law of Octaves. short octave: see SHORT adjective.
Comb.: octave coupler a device in an organ etc. enabling a note an octave higher or lower to be sounded with the note being played; octave flute (a) a piccolo; (b) a flute stop in an organ sounding an octave higher than the ordinary pitch; octave key a key on a wind instrument used to produce a note an octave higher than the note that is being fingered; octave stanza = sense 3 above; octave stop = sense 2b above.
B. verb intrans. Play Music in octaves. rare. L19.
octaval adjective of or pertaining to an octave; proceeding by octaves or eights: L19.

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