French Onion Soup

It’s amazing what you can do with a 3lb. bag of onions. This is a lazy (wo)man’s favorite, and cheap to boot. Great for a day like today, wet and chilly. Even better the next day. You can do without the booze in the recipe, but if can spare some, at least try to throw in some white wine.

Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée
(French Onion Soup)
Serves: 6-8
Active Time: 30mins
Start to Finish: 2-3hrs

3 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 ½ – 3 lbs white or yellow onions, thinly sliced
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
8 cups beef broth, preferably homemade or quality store-bought stock
1 cup dry white wine, such as Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc
¼ cup Cognac or good brandy
Thick slices of baguette, toasted
1 – 1 ½ cups grated gruyère cheese

In a heavy dutch oven (or soup pot), melt butter and oil over medium low heat. Add onions and stir to coat with the butter. Cover and cook over low heat until translucent and wilted, around 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and turn heat up to medium high. Add the salt and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally while onions begin to brown. Cook until onions are caramelized, a deep brown color, about 30-40 minutes (note: the onions took 2hrs to reduce and brown for the soup I made this week! The onions were extremely juicy. I’m wondering if it was because they were organic?)

Sprinkle flour over onions and cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour in 2-3 cups of beef broth, stirring constantly to incorporate the flour. Add the rest of the broth, cognac and white wine. Bring to a boil and turn heat down to low. Simmer for 1 ½ hours with a loose lid, adding a little water if liquid is evaporating too quickly. Stir occasionally.

At this point you can either go the traditional route and pour soup into individual, oven-safe bowls, or just place everything in the pot. Either way, place bread slices on the soup and top with cheese to completely cover the bread. If gruyere isn’t available, use a stongly flavoured cheese. Broil until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, with some good, cheap red wine.

(adapted from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook and the Gourmet Cookbook)

La Frégate

On my recent trip to Paris, I had the best onion soup (twice) at La Frégate restaurant. Located on the Left Bank, on the site of the home of Marshal D’Artagnan, who inspired Dumas to write his masterpiece “The Three Musketeeers”. It’s a great place to drop in if you’re visiting the nearby Louvre, Tuilerie Gardens or Musée d’Orsay.