French Onion Soup

If I had to choose a single all-time favorite soup, this might very well be it. I use the recipe for Soupe a L’Oignon on pages 43-44 of Julia Child’s Mastering volume one. The process takes quite awhile as the onions must be caramelized somewhat slowly, and the soup benefits from a long, slow simmering to develop its full flavor. It’s delicious all by itself, but gratineed with croutes and plenty of cheese it represents the perfection of soup as a comfort food one course meal.

The assembled ingredients. I used part of a loaf of my own homemade French bread. Not happy yet with the way the bread is turning out, but I’ll keep trying and when I get it right I’ll post that on my blog as well. Julia’s recipe calls for white wine or Vermouth in this soup and I’ve done it that way in the past. I usually use and prefer a red wine, though, both for flavor and color.

Everything ready to begin prep and cooking.

Sliced rounds of French bread brushed with olive oil and ready for the oven.

The prepared croutes. Croutes are hard-toasted rounds of French bread that have been brushed with olive oil and cooked in a 325 degree oven for about 30 minutes. When they come out of the oven I rub each one lightly with a clove of garlic and they are ready to use.

The recipe directs that the onions must “sweat” before you begin to brown them. This sweating is a slow cooking in butter and oil in a covered pot on medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes. The onions soften and release liquid, but don’t yet begin to brown. These are the onions after their 20-minute period of sweating.

The softened onions just beginning to brown.

The caramelized onions.

The finished soup simmering away. I add a dash of brandy to the soup for the last 10 minutes or so of simmering.

The cooled croutes ready for use.

The soup fresh out of the oven with a lovely crust of melted cheese covering several croutes floating atop the soup. I use a combination of Gruyere and parmesan cheeses to top the soup and I go heavy on the Gruyere since it melts so beautifully.

I got a little carried away with the amount of cheese on this one, but it was still delicious.

Tagged: French onion soup, Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, onions