French Onion Soup

September 18, 2006

After eating our share of rich food at dinners cooked by Alain Ducasse and Fergus Henderson, it was time to settle for something less demanding on the digestive system. I wasn’t ready for a plate of rabbit food. I wanted something nourishing, tasty and not heavy.

Aha! French onion soup was what I desired.

It’s a dish I used to make in the 70s, sometimes for dinner parties, sometimes for a family Sunday tea. It used to be all the rage then with every restaurant producing their own version. Those were the days of Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignonne, snails in garlic butter,  chicken liver pate. Beef Wellington. In fact dishes that are probably due for a revival once everyone gets over degustation menus, foams, and molecular gastronomy. In fact I think I will embark on a classic revival stint while we wait for summer.

But back to the soup. This is an easy dish to prepare. It involves some vigilance while the onion sweats down and lightly caramelises. But it’s great results for little effort and it’s great at the end of a busy weekend. And any leftovers make a grand Monday lunch.

Because it involves several onions, I do it the lazy way and chop them in the food processor. If you have any good beef or chicken stock in the freezer, now is the time to get it out.

French onion soup

6-8 medium to large onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 litres of good beef, chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry sherry
French bread
Grated cheese

Chop the onions finely. Melt the butter and add the oil then add the onions and sugar and sauté gently until the onions have cooked thoroughly but have not coloured too much. This will take about 25 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir in with a wooden spoon. Cook a further couple of minutes then add the sherry and stock, whisking to combine with the flour. Bring to the boil then turn back the heat and simmer for a further 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Meanwhile cut the French bread into slices and spread with grated cheese. Toast in the oven until the cheese melts and bubbles. Place a slice or two in a soup bowl and ladle over the soup.

If you prefer, you can serve the soup with wedges of Middle Eastern flat bread, sprinkled with cheese and baked in a hot oven for five minutes or until the cheese bubbles. That's what we had.

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