From the feedback I have received for my last post in my ‘Living Below the Line’ series, I decided to make a slightly more ‘extravagant’ version of my French Onion Soup, for those of us who would like to indulge a little bit and eat this soup like the French do… with CHEESY CROUTONS. The best cheese to use for this is a traditional Gruyère cheese, as this has a rich cheesy flavour with a stringy, soft texture (when melted).
When I was in Paris last year, I made sure that I had this soup as a starter or as my lunch each day. I wanted to see how different restaurants made it and after ordering it for my lunch on the first day, and trying the traditional soup for the first time I was not only delighted, but I was hooked. It was THE most incredible French onion soup I had ever eaten and I have wanted to recreate it for a while now, but haven’t dared in case I did not do it justice. But, this recipe was amazing and it took me straight back to my first day in Paris.
PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 1.5 hours
MAKES: 4 portions
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 large white onions
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 40g butter
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 2.5 pints of boiling hot water
- 275ml white wine (this is a really important ingredient to get a really authentic tasting soup)
- 2 beef stock cubes
- approx. 1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 small ciabatta bread
- 80g Gruyere cheese
HOW TO MAKE THE SOUP…
Let’s start by preparing the onions. So, chop in half, peel and then slice. We are going to make half moons of the onion so that we have large pieces of onion in our soup. Delicious. The onions are the star of the show after all.
Heat the oil and the butter in a pan until the butter has melted and then add the onions and cook on a high heat. You will need to keep stirring this and then letting it cook for a minute, stir, cook, stir cook so that the onions do not stick, but just allowing them enough time to soften and caramelise. Once the edges of the onion are just starting to become golden, like this…
.. the onions with the butter and the oil, just becoming golden around the edges.
We can move onto the next stage where we are going to get as much flavour from the onions as we possibly can. So, we need to pay close attention to the onions as they could burn and if that happens we will have to start again from scratch. We are going to turn the heat down to low – as low as it will go and allow the onions to cook for a couple of minutes and then stir and repeat. Ensure you are scraping the bottom of the pan each time you stir to make sure NOTHING is stuck to the bottom. After half an hour the onions should be golden brown and have reduced to quite a small quantity in the bottom of the pan. If this is the case you are ready to add the stock. If not, keep going for another 10 minutes or so.
Now add the 2.5 pints of boiling water, the 275ml of white wine and the 2 beef stock cubes. Turn the heat up to high and once the stock cubes are dissolved and the soup is at a rolling boil reduce the heat to low and allow it to reduce for 45 minutes. This will allow the soup to thicken a little as the volume of liquid reduces.
The onions have coloured the soup and added a fantastic deep brown/golden colour to the soup. The stock cubes, water, wine and pepper have now been added and we are ready to reduce the soup for 45 minutes.
Whilst the soup reduces, slice the ciabatta bread to create giant croutons – if you are making this soup to serve 4 people I would make 8 croutons, therefore 8 slices of ciabatta, so that everyone gets 2 croutons. Ciabatta bread is the best to use as it is a slightly more hardy bread… if you were to use white sliced bread it would completely disintegrate in the soup and you would be left with crouton mush.
Place these onto a baking tray and grill, until they are just slightly golden. Turn over and repeat on the other side. Whilst the croutons are being toasted you can grate approx. 80g of Gruyere cheese. If you use the smallest grater this will be best as the cheese will melt more quickly. Once the croutons are toasted remove them from underneath the grill (using your oven gloves) and sprinkle with approx. 10g of cheese on each one. Place back under the grill until the cheese is melted.
Once you have reduced the soup and it is looking thicker than when you first added the stock, then you are ready to serve the soup. Use a ladle to spoon the soup out into the bowl and then place 2 croutons in the centre of the bowl. You are now ready to eat… ENJOY!
My version of French Onion Soup with Gruyere cheese, CHEESY CROUTONS.
I thought I would take the opportunity to show you a few little snaps from my trip to Paris… and most importantly the French Onion Soup from the *Cafe du Centre* – it was truly incredible. I hope this recipe inspires you to make this soup. It is a real treat and not too indulgent if you are watching your waistline.
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