French Onion Soup
this recipe is from Julia Child in a very old episode of "The French Chef". It takes a little longer, but the time is very well spent. It is also more detailed than others and includes fool-proof instructions for properly browning onions as well as many extra add-ins. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients. The sage, wine, raw onion, and cognac are optional, but they contribute a lot, so use what you have. The result is an out-of-this-world onion soup with an amazing depth of flavor. You can make this even days ahead of time and then add the toasted bread ("croutes" as Julia calls them) and cheese and bake it the day of. This can be made vegetarian by using a beefy-flavored veg broth such as Better than Bullion Beefless broth instead of beef stock. Try it and love it! Enjoy!
Ingredients
Soup Makings
- 1 kg onions
- 1 tbs cooking oil
- 2 tbsp Butter
- .5 tsp sugar
- 3 tbs Flour
- 1 lt beef stock warmed
- .125 lt cooking wine
- 1 ea bayleaf
- 1 ea salty & pepper to taste
Croutons
- .2 kg gruyere or similar
- .1 kg Parmesan grated
- 8 ea french stick sliced approx 2 cm thick
- .025 lt olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
Make Soup
- Place heavy bottom stock pot or dutch over over medium-low heat.
- Add 1 Tbs cooking oil, 2Tbs butter to pot. Add sliced onions and stir until they are evenly coated with the oil. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until they are very tender and translucent.
- To brown or caramelize the onions turn heat under pot to medium or medium high heat.
- Add sugar and salt and continue to cook uncovered, stirring frequently until the onions have browned and reduced significantly.
- Once caramelized, reduce heat to medium-low and add flour to the onions. Brown the flour for about 2-3 minutes trying not to scorch it. (If the flour does not form a thick paste, you can add a bit more butter here).
- Stir in about 10% of warm stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to get up all of the cooked-on bits. Add the rest of the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf to the soup.
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Check the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Remove the bay leaf (if you can find it).
Make Croutes
- To make the "croutes" (toasted bread), heat oven to 180 degrees c.
- Drizzle each side of the bread slices with a bit of olive oil and place on baking sheet.
- Cook the croutes for 15 minutes in oven on each side (30 minutes total).
- Sprinkle the cheese in a thick layer on top of the bread making sure to cover the edges of the toast to prevent burning. Save some cheese for the soup.
- Drizzle with a little oil or melted butter and toast until golden.
Service
- Re-heat both, place the route in the soup as it goes out.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!