Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.
French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup is a traditional French recipe for a soup made from caramelized onions cooked in a rich stock. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic French version of French Onion Soup.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
60 minutes
Total Time:
80 minutes
Serves:
4–6
Rating: 
Tags : Vegetable RecipesCheese RecipesFrench Recipes
I know that this is a soup dish, but it's one of the classics and really deserves to be served as a meal, lunch or dinner, with lots of salad and crusty French
Breads. Also, it has to be classed as a meat dish as it needs either beef or venison stock to add richness to the dish.
Ingredients:
100g butter
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
3 tbsp plain flour
100ml white wine
2l
beef stock (or
venison) stock
1 tsp salt
pinch of sugar (to glaze the onions)
1 tsp freshly-ground
black pepper
250ml (1 cup) brandy
grated Gruyère cheese to top the bread
grated Parmesan cheese to top the bread
slices of
French bread
olive oil
Method:
Melt the butter in a heavy, covered pan at medium heat then add the onions, garlic, and a pinch of sugar, stirring constantly. Fry for 1–2 minutes, then reduce the heat and sweat for a further 4–6 minutes, until the onions are soft and tender
In the meantime, cut slices of French bread into 1cm pieces and toast them at 150°C (300°F/Gas Mark 2) in the oven for about 15 minutes, until they are little more than dry crusts.
When the onions are soft, sprinkle them with flour, stir, then add some 100ml of white wine and keep stirring until the mixture is thickened. Add the beef stock, stir in a teaspoon of salt, the pepper, and the brandy. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour to an hour and taste for seasoning.
When you're ready to serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls and cover each with a thick handful of Gruyere cheese. Top each with a piece of the toasted bread, which has been drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle it with the Parmesan, then run them under the grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese before serving
The beef stock is very important to the flavour of this soup. However, if you want to create a vegetarian version then I'd suggest creating a stock in this manner: add 50g butter to a frying pan, heat until the butter melts then add 50g chestnut mushrooms, 50g shiitake mushrooms and 50g porcini mushrooms along with three garlic cloves sliced thinly, half a red onion sliced thinly. Fry until the onion softens then add 500ml of water and bring to the boil. Boil for ten minutes, add 100g of chard or spinach and about 50ml of cognac. Allow to wilt for 1 minute then liquidize and pass through a sieve. Make the resultant liquid up to 2l and use in the place of the beef stock.
