French Onion Soup
Servings: about 6
Time: 1-1.5 hours
- 6 cups beef stock
- 4 large to 6 small onions (at least half red)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-2 large garlic cloves (chopped)
- 1/2 cup DRY red or white wine (we prefer red)
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1 small bay leaf
- pinch white pepper (black is ok)
- baguette (sliced)
- swiss or another melty cheese (Gruyere and Jarlsberg are really good)- grated
Cut onions in half and thinly slice. Caramelize onions in 2 batches (if you have a large soup pot and a large skillet or second pot, cook them at the same time!). To do this, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add onions and stir occasionally as they soften and cook for the next 20 minutes.
It is important to try to AVOID non-stick pans. You want the onions to stick a little and develop a nice brown tinge. This caramelizing process brings out the sweetness of the onions.
The batches above need a few more minutes, but you can see the beginning of caramelization. Once the 20 minutes are up, add the garlic to one batch, stir, and continue cooking. Add the wine to the second batch and cook both until the wine is reduced/absorbed by the onions (another ten minutes or less).
Combine the onions into one large soup pot and add 5.5 cups of beef broth and seasonings. Stir, breaking up the browned bits that stuck to the bottom of the pot during caramelization. Add the rest of the broth to the second (now empty) pan, heat gently, and scrape up browned bits. Add this mixture to the large soup pot. Simmer the soup for 20-30 minutes. Salt to taste but go easy because adding the cheese later will add salt. In the meantime, toast baguette slices in the oven.
Once the soup is done, ladle servings into oven-proof bowls (if you're not a fan of pieces of onion, simply strain the soup and keep the delicious broth). Heat broiler. Top soup with 2-3 baguette slices and top all of that with grated cheese.
Broil soup 2-3 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and browning slightly.
No comments:
Post a Comment