Here’s one of those simple joys of life. Really easy on the pocket, perfect to make on a Sunday when you’ve a bit of time and the result, great enough to get rave reviews from everyone. I love that this gratinee can be a part of a meal or the star of the meal.
It all begins with a ton of onions sliced very very thin with your best knife. Sauteed in butter and oil for close to an hour – in stages. First softened, then slowly cooked to a beautiful dark golden brown ‘mush’.
Julia Child’s addition of white wine and cognac is superb to get those complex palimpsest of flavors we crave in this classic. I have deviated from her recipe in that she calls for the thick slices of baguette to be toasted for 30 minutes before layered on the soup with gruyere cheese.
And I think we’d need to do that is we were using fresh baguette which would simply absorb a ton of soup and sink. However, the problem is solved by using a time-saver tip of using 1-2 day old stale baguette. Since so much of moisture has dried out of the baguette, it has the structural strength to float atop the soup with sinking thus saving us an additional 30 minutes.
Mind you, this isn’t one of those in-a-jiffy soups but the effort is so well worth it that when you finally huddle with a bowl of this lovely out of the broiler, with that lovely cheese-bread island floating on the soup, you’ll find the result completely rewarding.
If you’ve never thought of including this in your culinary repertoire, a remedy is in order.
Think of me when you take your first bite, won’t you?!
Gather the ingredients,
1-1/2 lbs medium yellow Onions (to yield 6 cups, very thinly sliced), 3 tbs butter, 1 tbs oil, 6 cups good quality beef Stock, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black ground pepper & 1/2 tsp ground Sage, 2 Bay Leaves, 1 cup dry white wine, 3 tbs all-purpose flour & 1 tsp sugar
Final touches: 1/2 small yellow Onion, 1 tbs Cognac, (optional), Approx. 2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded & Baguette, 1 day stale
Onions: Peel, discard ends. Halve and thinly slice into semi-circles.
Baguette ; Slice ½” thick – serve 1-2 slices per individual. The number of total slices will depend on the diameter of your pot/serving bowls.
Heat a heavy, oven-safe, 5-qt stock pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil and melt the butter into the hot oil. Add the sliced onions & ½ tsp salt and stir to thoroughly coat.
Sauté for 10-12 minutes until they begin to soften. Turn up the heat to medium-high, and add the sugar, ½ tsp salt & pepper. Continue sautéing while stirring until onions are thoroughly browned – the onions should have a rich brown color but should not turn black at all!
Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in flour. Brown slightly for about 3-4 minuutes.
Add the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover with lid allowing the steam to escape and simmer for about 25-30 minutes.
Make Ahead Tips: Stop here for serving the next day. You can also freeze the soup to be served at a future date. Defrost and continue on serving day.
Pre-heat the oven to broil.
Taste and adjust seasoning in the soup and remove the bay leaf. Heat the soup to a simmer. Add cognac, and grate the 1/2 raw onion into the soup.
Remove into indiviual French onion soup bowls if you wish. Cover the soup mixture with the bread, forming a single layer of bread atop the soup. Sprinkle 2-4 tbs shredded Gruyere cheese over the top of the bread, forming a thick layer.
Bake for 6-7 minutes until cheese has melted.
If you have a gas broiler, give a minute or so under the gas broiler so cheese has a few brown spots.
Recipe for
Classic Julia Child’s French Onion Soup
Adapted - 'From Julia Child’s Kitchen' & At Home with The French Classics by Richard Grausman
Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Shopping List – Serves 4-6
1-1/2 lbs medium yellow Onions (to yield 6 cups, very thinly sliced)
3 tbs butter
1 tbs cooking oil
6 cups good quality beef Stock
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp black ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground Sage
2 Bay Leaves
1 cup dry white wine
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
Final touches:
1/2 small yellow Onion
1 tbs Cognac, (optional)
Approx. 2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded
Baguette, 1 day stale
Preparation:
Onions: Peel, discard ends. Halve and thinly slice into semi-circles.
Baguette ; Slice ½” thick – serve 1-2 slices per individual. The number of total slices will depend on the diameter of your pot/serving bowls
Method:
Heat a heavy, oven-safe, 5-qt stock pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil and melt the butter into the hot oil. Add the sliced onions & ½ tsp salt and stir to thoroughly coat.
Sauté for 10-12 minutes until they begin to soften. Turn up the heat to medium-high, and add the sugar, ½ tsp salt & pepper. Continue sautéing while stirring until onions are thoroughly browned – the onions should have a rich brown color but should not turn black at all!
Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in flour. Brown slightly for about 3-4 minuutes.
Add the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover with lid allowing the steam to escape and simmer for about 25-30 minutes.
Make Ahead Tips:Stop here for serving the next day. You can also freeze the soup to be served at a future date. Defrost and continue on serving day.
Pre-heat the oven to broil.
Taste and adjust seasoning in the soup and remove the bay leaf. Heat the soup to a simmer
Add cognac, and grate the 1/2 raw onion into the soup.
Cover the soup mixture with the bread, forming a single layer of bread atop the soup.
Sprinkle 2 tbs shredded Gruyere cheese over the top of the bread, forming a thick layer.
Bake for 6-7 minutes until cheese has melted. If you have a gas broiler, give a minute or so under the gas broiler so cheese has a few brown spots.
Enjoy!
