Soupe à l’Oignon

Ever since, I first researched this, I have been dying to try this recipe of onion soup! I've seen tons of pictures, read several instructions on it, and figure its not that hard to cook French food!  And it turns out, this onion soup is quite easy, extremely yummy, and as one author says "deeply-fragrant" (which I concur).

I used a fusion between two different recipe and instructions. One which is the Rouxbe Cooking School's French Onion Soup and the other Smitten Kitchen's French Onion Soup. Both give really good instructions on how to cook the soup, so I'd encourage you take a look at them, if you're trying the recipe. The reason, I wanted to do a mix of them, because I didn't have all the ingredients to one, plus its nice to be able to compare and refer to both. Of course, the essentials are the same. So here goes on what I did:

a) Cut the onions in thin slices - I used at least 9-10 little ones, and this killed my tear ducts big time!

b) Add oil, and 2-3 tablespoons of butter and the onions in a skillet till onions are cooked and caramelized. In the process, I also added salt and pepper to taste. And 3 tablespoon of flour and 2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 cup of white wine as suggested by Smitten Kitchen to help the onions to caramelize. This all toke about 35 minutes for the onions to be brown. Most important thing is the frequently stir the onions careful not to burn them. This was one of the best part, ahh it smelled so good!

c) After the onions are caramelized, add the stock. You need about 8-9 cups of it. I used chicken broth and because I didn't have enough, I added some water to it too and it was fine. Bring it to simmer both the broth and the onions. (About 15 mins)

d) Cut the baquette in slices and grate the cheese. I used mozzarella (all I had). Some of the other recipe suggests Gruyere cheese or Swiss cheese. Lightly bake the baquette before adding to the soup. Add about 1-2 slices of baquette at the bottom of each soup bowl. Add the cheese on top. And then pour the soup in. To finish off, top with another slice or two of baquette with cheese and voila! Put soup bowls in oven to broil for 10 minutes and good to be served.

And the final product...


So satisfying! A) to finally have done this recipe and B) oh so delicious!!



Merci mes amis en France!

Paris!