Do you all like French Onion Soup? I do. I didn't until last week, though, and now I am a hardcore convert to the church of French Onion Soup. How did this revolution come about? Funny story.
My brother's heating blew out completely a few weeks ago, rendering his apartment an ice cave, so he moved back in with me until they fixed it. However, he continued to do things like paint the walls, assemble furniture, and play his bass in his own place, which meant that he contracted the inevitable death blargh known as the Common Cold. So on top of having a grown man sharing my one-room apartment, I also had a sick and pathetic grown man on my hands. So I did what I do when I'M the sick one: I made soup.
I found the recipe on Epicurious.com under the heading "Easy Dinners". We were low on food, so when I saw that all I would have to buy was a slab of Gruyere, I caved and made the French Onion Soup.
It was a revelation. An epiphany. A small miracle of onions and beef stock and cheese. I ate all of mine and finished my brother's (typically, he didn't like it).
Yesterday I bought a magnificent three-year-old Gruyere from a cheese vendor at the Gendarmmarkt's Christmas Market. He told me to eat it with crackers, and I did. Half of it. With the other half, I made soup. Today is a bleak, tired kind of day: cold outside, but not cold enough for snow, and I had a tough German class on top of that. On the train I realized that I desperately needed hot soup and comforting Mozart. So I came home, pulled up a Mozart playlist on YouTube and found this:
Play it while you eat the soup: it makes it even more delicious.
Simple French Onion Soup:
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Calvados, Applejack, or other brandy (I don't have brandy, so I used apple juice)
4 cups low-salt beef stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4–8 1/2"-thick slices baguette (I use German multigrain bread, and always will)
1 cup grated Gruyère or raclette cheese
Special equipment: Four 10-ounces ramekins (I used regular bowls; they work fine)
Preheat oven to 450°F. Cook onions in a 12" nonstick skillet over high heat, stirring constantly, until soft and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add butter and toss onions to coat. Remove pan from heat and stir in Calvados. Return pan to heat and continue cooking until Calvados is absorbed, about 30 seconds. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until soup is reduced to 4 cups, about 5 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Divide soup among ramekins. Top each ramekin with 1-2 slices of bread. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over each. Transfer baking sheet with ramekins to oven and bake until cheese is bubbly and browned in spots, about 4 minutes.
4 comments:
Clever! Gruyere is usually beyond us, but I've heard of a discount cheese shop in the Village (!) so may check it out. Also thanks for the tip on bowls; whenever the Beloved Flatmate and I make French onion soup, there's a refrain of "If only we had ramekins!"
@Lucy: I won't lie, I spent my last six euros on that cheese. But it was worth it. Discount cheeseshops? Sign me up! I wish that I could afford ramekins, but it isn't my top priority. My bowls are red with white polka dots, so I like to make soup in them. :)
@Christie Good for you! Can't fault your priorities. :) We joke that I have to buy the Beloved Flatmate a set of ramekins when she gets married... for now, bowls. Ours do not have fabulous polka dots, however.
YUMMY!!!
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