French Onion Soup

Cooksie

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1/2 stick butter
2 T vegetable oil
4 large onions, 2 yellow and 2 white, sliced in rings about 1/8" thick
1/2 t sugar
1 T flour
2 cans Swanson's beef broth (14 oz)
1 can Swanson's chicken broth (14 oz)
salt
black pepper
2 T brandy
baguette slices, 1/2" thick, rubbed with a garlic clove, and lightly toasted
Gruyere, Swiss, or provolone cheese


Heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook down for about 30 minutes. When all of the onions are soft, raise the heat, sprinkle on the sugar, and cook until the onions caramelize. This usually takes me about 45 minutes to get good color on the onions.


This pic is after about 30 minutes. They still need to cook some more. The cooking time really depends on what type of cookware you're using.

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Once the onions have good color, add the flour and continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add the broths and simmer very slowly for about 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from heat, add pepper and salt if necessary. Stir in the brandy.

Ladle the soup into ovenproof bowls. Top with the baguette slices and then the cheese. Place under broiler to brown the tops.

Makes about 3 servings as an entree or about 6 appetizer servings.
 
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homecook

New member
Stupendous Cooksie!! I love French Onion soup.


Would you know how many cups/ounces the chicken/beef broth were?? I buy mine in the boxes and I don't have any cans left to compare. Thanks!!
 

Cooksie

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Stupendous Cooksie!! I love French Onion soup.


Would you know how many cups/ounces the chicken/beef broth were?? I buy mine in the boxes and I don't have any cans left to compare. Thanks!!

Good point! I fixed it.

Thanks HC and Chow! :flowers:
 

Doc

Administrator
Staff member
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ummm, that looks so good Cooksie. I'll add that to my list of things to try.
Thanks!!!!!!!
 

RobsanX

Potato peeler
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Wow! You just made my stomach growl! This is the only soup my wife will eat, and I see myself using this recipe very soon!
 

Cooksie

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I did another version of this last night with these changes:
All yellow onions (didn't have any whites)
Left out the vegetable oil
Not quite so much flour
But...the biggest improvement was that I swapped out the beef broth for Demi-Glace Gold which made it much richer

I love this stuff and am going to have to buy some more.

Demi-Glace Gold ingredients: Veal stock (veal bones, water), Roux (made of wheat flour and veal fat), Modified Food Starch, Mirepoix Stock (made of carrot, celery, and onion stocks), Red Wine, Beef Stock, Tomato Paste, Salt, Celery Stock, Carrot Stock.


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I also discovered take-and-bake baguettes that you can bake from frozen. Now I don't have to throw away half of a baguette that has turned into a brick.
 

QSis

Grill Master
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Wow! What a beautiful dish!

What part of the store did you find the Demi-Glace Gold in, Cooksie?

Lee
 

Cooksie

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It should be near the bouillons and chicken base. You can get it on Amazon too.
 

QSis

Grill Master
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Made some of this last night - great for a blizzard night!

I doubled it and used the slicer attachment on my food processor for the onions (they bother my eyes). Used sherry instead of brandy.

I've always loved this soup, but found it messy to eat. So, after toasting the croutons, I diced them. And grated the Gruyere.

MUCH easier!

Lee
 

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Shermie

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Nice!!! That'll be my next project as soon as I can get some beef bones!!

Of course, I can take the easier way out by using canned beef broth or stock. :cooking: :wow:
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
It looks like mine didn't caramelize enough but think it will be good. Since mine was a vegitarian recipe it will have no added cheese except the rennet free parmesan I found at Trader Joe's and the broth is orgainic veg from Safeway - still smells wonderful.

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I'll do this longer next time.

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QSis

Grill Master
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Did you use leeks, Johnny?

Glad this was bumped up! Great idea for a Fall dinner!

Lee
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
I did and you can see them better in the pan. I had 7 I used plus 6 onions. It all came out excellent except I could have used more Swiss when finished it off under the broiler.

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Cooksie

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Looks great, JW! The last time I made French Onion Soup, I added some sliced mushrooms for a little variation. It was good that way too.

I think I've only used leeks three or four times in my life. I don't know why because I really like them.
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
The leeks mush up in the soup and give it some body. I get a lot of leeks from the CSA and needed to use them up. I only added rennet free parmesan and left out the grated Swiss cheese since my son was eating it too. If I made it for myself it would be with beef stock and best cheese.

I found a recipe for Hungarian mushroom soup I want to try soon. I'll post the recipe soon.
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
I think last night's leftovers were better than the original.
I added a can of consomme and water and put a drizzle of
congac at the the table.
 
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