French Onion Soup March 5, 2011

The PT loves French onion soup. He’ll try it anywhere we go, but his top is from some hole in the wall café on St. Martin Island. I honestly admit that I wasn’t trying to live up to that, but I did want to try and make some awesome French onion soup. When the PT found a recipe for French Onion soup that used a beer we recently tried (la Fin du Monde), I decided it was time to give it a go.

I’ve waited so long because I am intimidated by caramelizing onions. I’m not convinced I did it correctly this time either—they weren’t the color I expected, and when I make this again, I will not dice them as indicated by the recipe. That said, the soup was delicious and generated several round of very yummy noises from the PT. Not quite a hole in the wall café on St. Martin, but good enough that he suggested I make it when we have friends over. Bucket was even in his “I’m waiting!” pose 🙂

Here’s the thing. It took me FOREVER to get to the caramelization I did with the onions (which was not the deep amber color I was aiming for). I started chopping onions at 6:15 when I got home from crossfit, and we FINALLY ate at 10. The soup only simmers for 25 minutes…the beer only reduces for maybe 15. It took me at least two hours to caramelize those onions. So, if anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them, because that just can’t be right. And I want to make it again…but I wish it wouldn’t have to be a Saturday only dish. Here they are after I added the beer:

The recipe also called for ½ cup port, ½ cup red wine. I think the onions are way sweet enough, and next time I’m just going to use a full cup of red and skip the port. I’d even suggest using 1 ½ cups red wine to boost the flavor up without adding extra sweetness. Or use good port. Mine is crappy, too sweet, and while the soup was good, I think it would be better with just wine. Also, the Bogle Merlot I used is something you should definitely try. It is a scrumptious, inexpensive wine. YUM!

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

6 medium onions, 4 sliced, 2 diced. Use a variety. We used 2 red and 4 sweet. I’d add some white next time.

2 green onions, sliced thin

1 garlic clove, sliced thin

750 mL (25 oz) Belgian style beer. We used La Fin du Monde, a triple, and it is worth it to use beer that tastes great to you.

4 cups beef broth (32 oz)

1-1.5 cups red wine (use something you like!)

1 tsp celery seed

pinch of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 loaf French bread

2 cups grated gruyere or emmental cheese

1 cup grated good quality parmesan

Directions

Caramelize the four onions you sliced. As I mentioned before, it took me forever, but here’s how I did it. Heated bacon fat in large saucepan over medium until shimmering. Added onions, tossed to coat. They took up about half my pan in height (it was a lot). Lightly salted to sweat out the water, and, stirring often, monitored as they broke down. They never browned, so that was good, but it took at least two hours, if not more, and ended up about ¼ inch deep, so quite reduced. Add the green onion and garlic in the last 10-15 minutes of this process so the garlic doesn’t burn and become bitter.

Add Beer and deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the yummy brown bits. reduce the beer to half (I turned my heat up to medium high while reducing). Once beer is reduced, add the wine, broth, celery seeds, thyme, and diced onion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Slice bread to about ¼ inch thick. Place soup in bowls, top with bread and cover with a handful of gruyere/emmental, and some of the parmesan. Set bowls on a cookie sheet and broil until cheese is desired brown and melty.

Serve as a main course with a salad or as a side dish with a small beef filet and salad.

serves 4 (main) to 6 (side). Took me all night, but hopefully your onions are faster…But it ultimately was totally worth it.