What do the Winter Olympic Games have to do with French Onion Soup?
Absolutely nothing!
Except the thought of France being so far behind Canada, made me crave this French comfort soup.
We’ve been watching the Winter Olympic Games for the past few days. So far Canada is way ahead of France in medal counts.
I am not happy about that. Dan is Canadian (also, we are both US citizens) so you can only imagine what it is like in our household supporting different teams.
Dan & I see eye-to-eye on a lot of things but when it comes to supporting our home teams we are rivals.
Don’t get me wrong, marriage is still more important than sports, or so they say, but it’s fun to get into the spirit of a friendly rivalry once in a while. It keeps things interesting if you know what I mean…
I must say, this soup never fails to satisfy me. We had it as our main course and it paired beautifully with a glass of Cotes du Rhone..
There have been a lot of debates about traditional French onion soup. Some of them about the provenance, some of them about key ingredients. Some people are convinced you should only use water. To me, It matters little whether you use stock or water. The result is the same, a very tasty onion soup – as long as you don’t decide to use fish stock. That would make it fish soup…
Regardless of what you use to make this soup, there is only one thing you need to worry about: caramelization. Without proper caramelization, you will not be able to achieve that fantastic deep flavor and beautiful color.
Onion caramelization takes time. You can’t rush this process. You just have to give it the time it needs and deserves.
I hope you enjoy this terrific soup..
- Ingredients:
- 5 medium brown onions thinly sliced
- 2 red onions thinly sliced
- 4 tbs unsalted butter
- 2 tbs all purpose flour
- ½ cup dry sherry or cognac
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme tied into a bouquet
- 4 cups chicken, beef or veal stock (homemade if possible)
- 3 cups grated Emmental or Gruyere cheese
- 4 slices of country style bread
- Melt butter in a large dutch oven. Add onions, salt and pepper and cook on medium to low heat for about an hour, steering occasionally until the onions are soft and caramelized.
- Lower the heat and stir in the flour to coat the onions. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes steering constantly to loosen any dried bits. Do not burn onions.
- Add fresh thyme, dry sherry and beef stock. Bring the soup to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning accordingly. Can be made ahead.
- Lightly toast bread slices – just enough to dry them. Do not brown.
- Remove the Thyme. Ladle the soup in oven safe bowls. Top with a slice of toasted bread and some cheese. Using a baking sheet, transfer bowls to oven and Broil on high until cheese melts and top is slightly brown and crisp.