Courgette carpaccio, french onion soup and roast beef

We usually end up having only two meals over weekend days. Looks like this was an omelette again. My Working the Plate book has a lovely garnish with radish and sprouts, so I had a go at that with a brunch omelette:


For dinner I spread the components out to give them more interest.
For starters, a courgette carpaccio from Clotilde Dousoulier's Chocolate & Zucchini. I find it works better if it stands longer than 10 minutes. This stood a couple of hours, while the soup cooked.



The soup was French Onion, with cheese of course. Paul had some bread with his. French Onion soup is really easy to make if you can just exercise a modicum of patience. You need 4 or 5 onions for a moderate amount of soup. Slice these finely, and then sweat them in a little olive oil over a low heat for 30-45 minutes. Yes, that long. Do this in a pot. They should brown gently and not burn. It does take some watching, hence the patience. Then add enough water to make soup, I guess about a litre and a half. Add some salt, bring to the boil, and then let it simmer for about half an hour so all the onion taste can move into the water. That's all there is to it.


Then finally we had the roast beef dinner I had planned for Friday night. This was an Albert Heijn ready-meal, just pop into the oven. Comes complete with veg and gravy. There were some peas in it (not allowed) but I decided a teaspoonful would hardly matter.

And I had my first glass of wine in two weeks.