Fall is upon us and it's time for something hearty and delicious... well, maybe not so hearty, but definitely delicious. Sally happened to buy a ginormous red onion from the market last weekend and we've spent the last three days eating salads while attempting to whittle down this bulbous vegetable before it starts to rot. Too bad there's just so much salad a girl can take. And only so much onion breath.
We started searching for recipes with red onions, trying to find something to break the monotony of lettuce+tomatoes+cucumbers+red onion salad. Couscous and red onion? Chickpea red onion salad? Tandoori chicken and red onion pizza? The last one sounded tempting, but we're out of flour.
Yes, you heard me. The queen of baking (ahem, Sally) is out of flour. Which may or may not have contributed to our long absence. But never fear! Delicious delicacies can be made with or without flour... whether they'll end up baked is another question.
Finally we settled on french onion soup. Sally's a huge fan of this simple soup, consisting of only a couple ingredients (onions, broth, oil, and some seasoning. Oh, and of course, the whole french bread+cheese thing. Which we totally have. Totally.). She's also a huge fan of onion breath. Which you will not get with this soup, I promise.
As simple as the recipe was, it called for a bit of modification. Mostly because we didn't have dry white wine. Normally I'd just substitute an equal amount of chicken broth and call it a day, but we were already using chicken broth as a substitute for the beef broth. So that didn't seem right. Our options: red wine, vinegar, mirin, and sparkling grape juice. We went with the red wine, not sure if it was the best choice, but hey, our taste buds didn't mind.
French Onion Soup
adapted from here, here, here, oh and here too.
makes 2 bowls of soup
Ingredients*
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 cups chicken or beef broth
1/8 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
2 black peppercorns
salt to taste, about 1/4 tsp
4 baguette slices, 1/4 inch thick, toasted
1/4 cup shredded cheese (Gruyere is traditional, we used Swiss)
Directions
1. Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, toss with a wooden spoon to coat them in oil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Let the onions steep for 15 minutes.
2. Uncover the pot, increase the heat to medium. Cook the onions for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, until they caramelize. They'll turn a little grey-ish in color and clump together.
3. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Pour in the wine, stir, then add a little bit of the stock at a time, stirring in between each addition. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.
4. Bring the liquid to a simmer and leave it partially covered for 30-40 more minutes, skimming the top if it becomes frothy. Add the salt. Remove the bay leaf.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring the soup to a boil and ladle the soup into two ovenproof bowls. Set the bowls on a foil-lined baking sheet and add two slices of bread to each bowl to float on top of the soup. Divide the cheese and mound it on top of the bread.
6. Bake the soup on the tray for 10 minutes, then turn on the broiler and brown the top lightly. Serve immediately.
*Note: yes, I know the measurements are a bit crazy. The reason Sally and I decided to leave it this way is because we're cooking for two people rather than the six people most recipes seemed to call for, and figured other people in smaller households might appreciate the scaled down version. (or maybe we're just too lazy to do the math to scale it up.) If you'd like to feed six people, take a look at the ingredient list for one of the adapted from recipes to get the proper proportions.
We started searching for recipes with red onions, trying to find something to break the monotony of lettuce+tomatoes+cucumbers+red onion salad. Couscous and red onion? Chickpea red onion salad? Tandoori chicken and red onion pizza? The last one sounded tempting, but we're out of flour.
Yes, you heard me. The queen of baking (ahem, Sally) is out of flour. Which may or may not have contributed to our long absence. But never fear! Delicious delicacies can be made with or without flour... whether they'll end up baked is another question.
Finally we settled on french onion soup. Sally's a huge fan of this simple soup, consisting of only a couple ingredients (onions, broth, oil, and some seasoning. Oh, and of course, the whole french bread+cheese thing. Which we totally have. Totally.). She's also a huge fan of onion breath. Which you will not get with this soup, I promise.
As simple as the recipe was, it called for a bit of modification. Mostly because we didn't have dry white wine. Normally I'd just substitute an equal amount of chicken broth and call it a day, but we were already using chicken broth as a substitute for the beef broth. So that didn't seem right. Our options: red wine, vinegar, mirin, and sparkling grape juice. We went with the red wine, not sure if it was the best choice, but hey, our taste buds didn't mind.
French Onion Soup
adapted from here, here, here, oh and here too.
makes 2 bowls of soup
Ingredients*
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 cups chicken or beef broth
1/8 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
2 black peppercorns
salt to taste, about 1/4 tsp
4 baguette slices, 1/4 inch thick, toasted
1/4 cup shredded cheese (Gruyere is traditional, we used Swiss)
Directions
1. Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, toss with a wooden spoon to coat them in oil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Let the onions steep for 15 minutes.
2. Uncover the pot, increase the heat to medium. Cook the onions for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, until they caramelize. They'll turn a little grey-ish in color and clump together.
3. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Pour in the wine, stir, then add a little bit of the stock at a time, stirring in between each addition. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.
4. Bring the liquid to a simmer and leave it partially covered for 30-40 more minutes, skimming the top if it becomes frothy. Add the salt. Remove the bay leaf.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring the soup to a boil and ladle the soup into two ovenproof bowls. Set the bowls on a foil-lined baking sheet and add two slices of bread to each bowl to float on top of the soup. Divide the cheese and mound it on top of the bread.
6. Bake the soup on the tray for 10 minutes, then turn on the broiler and brown the top lightly. Serve immediately.
*Note: yes, I know the measurements are a bit crazy. The reason Sally and I decided to leave it this way is because we're cooking for two people rather than the six people most recipes seemed to call for, and figured other people in smaller households might appreciate the scaled down version. (or maybe we're just too lazy to do the math to scale it up.) If you'd like to feed six people, take a look at the ingredient list for one of the adapted from recipes to get the proper proportions.
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