For some reason I’ve been on a HUGE French food kick recently. If I had my way I would eat from Julia Child’s every day. I’m not even kidding. Clearly my body just wants butter and cream.
The other day I was craving French onion soup so I decided to make it. This of course meant I had to acquire onion soup bowls, which of course is half the fun! When I decided to make the soup I knew the first (and only) stop would be Julia Child’s cookbook. Of course she had a few recipes/variations but I decided to make the basic version.
I had no idea the soup would be so easy. It takes some time because you have to caramelize the onions, but you aren’t using any fancy techniques or crazy ingredients. The wackiest ingredient in the list is Cognac which I happened to have. For the onion I used Vidalia’s which was probably a bit of a mistake because the onion flavour was too mild. You’d probably want to use a yellow or Spanish onion here to get the most oniony goodness out of the soup.
I free-styled a bit at the end and rather than putting the bread at the bottom of the bowl I used it to top the soup and sprinkled cheese on it and ran the whole thing under the broiler. SO GOOD. My favourite part of eating onion soup is dunking the cheesy bread into the whole mess.
Making French onion soup is going to be added to my regular rotation of things to make. It’s easy, inexpensive AND it really classes up dinner and makes a weeknight supper that much more special.
French Onion Soup
5 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 quarts beef stock, boiling
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons cognac
4-6 rounds of hard-toasted French bread
1-2 cups grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
1) Cook the onions slowly in the butter and oil in a covered saucepan for 15 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to medium and stir in the salt and sugar. The sugar will help the onions to brown. Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions have turned a deep golden brown.
2) Sprinkle in the flour and stir over heat for 3 minutes. Off heat, blend in the stock. Add the wine and season to taste. Simmer partially covered for another 30-40 minutes or more, skimming if needed. Correct seasonings.
3) Just before serving, stir in the cognac. Place rounds of bread in soup bowls or a tureen and pour soup on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and brown under a hot broiler until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately.
(From Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child)
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I made Dorie’s French onion soup a few weeks ago and loved it. Caramelised the onions for AGES and yes, there was some alcohol in it too. Delish and perfect for this weather…
I can’t think of a better combination of ingredients, really. Bread, cheese, caramelized onions…It looks delicious! I like the bread on top idea too:)
[…] Stacey – French Onion Soup. She took this classic recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French […]
I absolutely love French Onion Soup and don’t understand why I’ve never made it at home! It’s so easy and I’m sure a lot tastier than anything I could get eating out!