French Onion Soup

The long, slow cooking of the onions gives this dish its subtle characteristic flavour. You really need to have a brown stock to make this delicacy.

Ingredients
500 gm thinly sliced onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar (helps the onions to caramelize)
1½ litres of brown stock (see index)
¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth
2 tablespoons flour
Several rounds of toasted French bread
1 cup grated Swiss cheese.

Method
Melt the oil and butter in a stockpot.  Add the onions and salt and cook over a very low heat, covered, for 15 minutes.   Remove the lid and add the sugar and cook for a further 40 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are a deep golden colour.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.
Off the heat, stir in the stock and wine, a little at a time, to prevent the flour from becoming lumpy.  Return to the heat, partially cover the pot and continue to cook for a further 40 minutes.  Correct the seasoning if necessary.
Half an hour before serving, place the rounds of bread in a 170 C oven and bake for 30 minutes, when they will be crisp and dried out.  Place 1 round of toasted bread in the bottom of each serving bowl, sprinkle with Swiss cheese and immediately ladle the soup over the bread and cheese and serve immediately.  Pass some grated Parmesan at the table This stock can be used for cold soups as well because the gelatine from the bones enables it to set, giving a lovely texture to cold soups.

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Posted by SiteAdmin on Nov 17 2011. Filed under Meg’s Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry