Castellon's Kitchen: Tapeworm Soup (French Onion Soup)

Fun plating and a little creative preparation goes a long way in transforming regular recipes into fun festive dishes for Halloween. Think of it like everyday recipes in costume. This Tapeworm Soup for instance, is your classic French Onion Soup and instead of putting them in crocks smothered in Gruyere cheese melted toasts, I served it in these fun food-safe beakers which I ordered from restaurantsupply.com. The beakers expose the rich caramel color of the soup with worms of onions stringing throughout the murky rich broth. Instant yuck factor! As if that wasn't enough, I added to the tapeworm affect by topping each soup with lightly sauteed leeks, letting them them droop over the rim of the beakers. The flat segmented rings mimic those disgusting parasites perfectly. A deliciously gross idea for Halloween. Serve it with a few bubbly crisps of Parmesan cheese and dig in. Enjoy!

Tapeworm Soup (French Onion Soup)

(slightly adapted recipe from Chef Teri Appleton)

Serves 8

4 lbs. yellow onions, cut into 1/4 inch slices
3 T butter
1 cups water, divided for rounds of deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs of Thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine onions and 2 cups water in a large dutch oven over high heat. Cover and cook for 25 minutes until onions are soft and wilted. Drain onions and wash and dry Dutch oven.
Over medium heat, melt butter in Dutch oven and then add the wilted onions. Cook onions, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Scraping the bottom and sides of the pot until liquid evaporates and the onions brown, ~15-20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly.

Continue to cook, stirring frequently until bottom of the pot is coated with a dark crust(fond), adjusting heat as necessary to avoid burning the fond.

Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping bottom of the pot to loosen the crust and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust. Repeat process of deglazing 2-3 times, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in sherry and cook until sherry evaporates, ~5 minutes.
Stir in stocks, thyme, bay leaf and 1/2 tsp salt, scraping up any bits of browned crust on the bottom and sides of the pot.

Increase heat to high and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

Tapeworm Garnish
3 leeks, white part only, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
3 T butter

Cut leeks into 1/4 inch rounds. Laying each round flat on the cutting board cut a quarter of the way through the rings of the leek creating long open rings.

In a medium skillet, saute in butter for a about 5-8 minutes until leeks are softened but not browned. Top soup with leeks and serve with a Parmesan crisp.

Parmesan Crisps
1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place small mounds of grated Parmesan on a parchment lined cookie sheet.