Just as we stir the foods we eat, those foods stir our memories and bring people and places from long ago back to the surface. What was a cloudy moment from thirty or forty years ago is a shockingly vibrant image when an aroma or a flavor triggers some pathway in our mind. Back then, they were all so close and clear: a small group of friends, wine so red it looked like blood, steam gently rising from an ancient pot on an even more ancient stove, and fresh bread as clean tasting as water. For me, onion soup is one of those foods, bringing back layer after layer of memories from some cold, wet, winter nights of 1972 Seattle. Here's to Max and Rachel, Dan and Mary, Denny and Roxie. I remember you all...and the onion soup, too. 

Onion Soup

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 8 to 10 cups thin sliced onions
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 good grinds of a peppermill
• 2 quarts homemade beef stock
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup (or more!) dry sherry
• 2 slices of dry toasted french bread per bowl
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese per bowl

In a very large saucepan or a dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions, salt and pepper and cook down slowly, stirring often, until onions are deep golden brown, about 30 to 45 minutes. You will need to adjust the heat up as the onions sweat out their moisture, and down as that moisture evaporates. Taste the onions to test doneness: they will be be soft, sweet and sticky with caramelized sugar from the juices when they are done.

Add the beef stock to the cooked onions and raise the heat to medium high, stirring to incorporate all the sticky onion parts on the bottom of the pan. When the soup is gently boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Check and correct salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the sherry.

Preheat oven to 350 and make sure oven rack is centered. Put serving bowls on a cookie sheet for ease of handling. Ladle soup into bowls and float two or three pieces of toasted french bread on each. Cover the entire bowl surface of soup and bread with a layer of swiss cheese. Switch oven to 'Broil' and put cookie sheet with soup bowls on center rack. Broil until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Bowls and soup will be VERY hot, so be careful serving. 

I know there's already french bread in the soup, but these breadsticks are incredible as a crusty, crunchy contrast of textures. These will absolutely not keep, even overnight, so eat them fresh and plan to make breadcrumbs out of any left over.

Sesame Breadsticks - the Easy Way

• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups bread flour 
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• Cornmeal for the baking sheet
• 1 egg white
• Sesame seeds

Load the water, salt, flour, and yeast in a bread machine. Select the dough setting and press start. When the dough has mixed and risen the first time (1 hour 40 minutes on my machine), the machine will beep. Flour a cutting board or countertop and dump the bread dough out. Remove the paddle!

Spread a thin layer of cornmeal on a heavy baking sheet. On the cutting board, form the dough into a rough cylinder about 12 inches long, then cut chunks an inch long from it. You should have 12 pieces. Roll each piece in flour and form into a breadstick about 10 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Put it carefully on the cornmeal covered baking sheet; repeat with the other pieces of dough.   

Cover the breadsticks with a dry dishtowel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 15 minutes, meanwhile preheating the oven to 350. Remove the dishtowel. Beat the egg white with a little water and use a pastry brush to gently coat tops and sides of bread sticks. Sprinkle sesame seeds all over the wet breadsticks.

Bake at 350 about 20 minutes, rotating the pan about half way through to ensure even browning. Bake additional 10 minutes if you like them extra crispy, but take care not to burn tops OR bottoms. Remove pan from oven, let cool 5 minutes, then remove breadsticks from pan and cool on racks, or just eat them right out of the pan.