Onion Soup - More than a flavor for sour cream dip.

Soupe A L'Oignon -- Onion Soup

This recipe had nothing particularly difficult in the process of making it, it took a while to cook, it smelled great, and it tasted verrry good. All of that made it a pretty relaxing dish to prepare. "Soupe A L'Oignon (French Onion Soup) was a fun recipe. I successfully used my developing knife skills to thinly slice about two pounds of onions. With fingertips still intact and no blood on the cutting board, all of the slices went into the pot together with three tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of oil.

The onions were allowed to cook slowly for a about fifteen minutes with the pan covered. After that, a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of sugar were added while the heat was raised to moderate and the lid was removed. The sugar helped to brown the onions over the next forty minutes while being continually stirred. It was a slow process that was actually fun to watch as the onions went from being white to a nice golden brown color.

After the onions had changed to the golden brown color, three tablespoons of flour was sprinkled on and stirred for about three minutes. After that, two quarts of boiling beef bouillon were poured in with the onions and blended in. For the next forty minutes the soup was allowed to simmer partially covered and the flavor was slowly coaxed out of the onions. You might not want this as your daily air freshener but the house certainly announces to any visitors what is being cooked.

The final step was to prepare the croutons for the soup. A fresh loaf of French bread was cut into 3/4"-1" slices and place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and placed in the oven at 325 degrees for half an hour until the slices were thoroughly dried out and lightly toasted. This created the "Croutes" (hard roasted French bread) used when the soup was served.

To serve the soup, it was dished into a bowl and then topped with croutons and the hole thing was then sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese. I could have used freshly grated Swiss cheese but I didn't have any. No complaints from my "customers." Both of my sous chefs enjoyed the soup together with me and there were no leftovers. The house might take a couple of days to go back to a nice flowery smell but the soup sure was delicious! Hope you'll try it someday

Bon appetit!