French Onion Soup

Quite recently, I had guests from France staying at our place. We were all cold, desperate for some good, warming, hearty food.  But in my fridge that day I had only onions and some gouda cheese. So, remembering the soup my mother used to make for holidays and special occasions, I decided to make onion soup the way she did, only served with w slice of toast with gouda cheese on top, and grilled in the oven. The biggest surprise for me was when Frederic said that this soup tastes exactly like the one served in French discos after midnight as a snackJ And this soup can make haters of onions fall in love with them. So here I present you: The French Onion Soup!

Type of dish: soup

Cost: cheap

Difficulty: easy

Time: 50-60min

Serves: 6-8

Preparation time: 10min

Cooking Time: 35-45min

What you need to make this dish:

Large saucepan ( fits 2,5l), spoon, knife, cutting board, ladle, garlic press, wooden spoon, kettle.

Ingredients:

•          6 large onions

•         2 garlic cloves, peeled

•          1 cup of white dry wine

•          2l boiling water

•          2 tbsp olive oil

•          1 tbsp butter

•          1 bay leaf

•          1 beef stock cube

•          1 chicken stock cube

•          6 spoon of Worchester sauce

•          6 slices of buttered white bread

•          6 slices of gouda cheese

•        Cayenne pepper

How to prepare:

Peel the onions and cut them in half, then slice them. Not paper thin, but 3-4mm thin. Once you do that and cry a bit, turn on the stove on high, put on the saucepan, and heat the olive oil and butter. When it’s melted, throw in the onions, and mix well with a wooden spoon, so the onions are coated with the oil/butter mixture. Let the onions brown, mixing every few minutes, and when they are translucent and brown, and the bottom of the pan is brown too (at least in a few places), pour in the wine and stir. Now time to boil the 2l of water in a kettle. The wine should reduce about to ¾ of its beginning state. Add to the saucepan crushed garlic, the stock cubes, bay leaf, Worchester sauce and the boiling water. Stir well and turn the heat down to medium. Let the soup cook for 35-45 min, and taste at the end to see if it needs more salt or pepper. Or it might need some more salt. Let’s leave that to your taste buds. Now, at the very end, depending how many people you are serving, grill the bread until it’s golden and crispy. Then remove and put on the toasts some cheese and put back into the oven and grill till the cheese has melted and is bubbly.  Using a ladle, pour the soup in bowls, on each portion place on top a piece of toast with cheese, and sprinkle with a bit of cayenne pepper. Serve and enjoy the praises!

Additional information:

If you have 1 cup of grated  Gruyere cheese, it’ll be good instead of the gouda. Also, if you don’t have Worchester sauce, use some  juice from half a lemon. And remember to remove the bay leaf before serving. Best the next day, for some reason.