Onion Soup and Cheese Toast

When there’s something that I absolutely, most definitely have to get accomplished, I watch the Travel Channel on the couch. Today, we have France. Lovely, beautiful France, with its cafes and vineyards and rolling hillsides and nobody anywhere working or studying for finals. Okay, they work, but it’s tasting cheese or making wine or something else more awesome than law school.

I’ve been to France once, as a graduation gift with my college roommate. We rode into Paris on a train over the Alps after spending several weeks in Italy, terrified we would fall into the cavernous depths below. To abate our fear we played MASH for hours, each trying to stick the other with Steve Buscemi while attempting to snag Vincent Perez and the Apartment in Paris with 2 children and a honeymoon in Crete. I still have the Moleskin with our games. When we got to Paris it was bitterly cold (who knew traveling though Europe in late February was cheap for a reason). And we were sick. And we were tired. And neither of us spoke French. So we watched movies on the Champs-Elysees and ate French fries at the most beautiful McDonald’s I’ll ever see. We were tired, but happy, Americans playing around in Paris.

But we never got out of Paris to see the countryside, and I never had French Onion Soup. Until I get a job as a host on the Travel Channel, this is as close as I’ll get. And so, today’s menu is a trip to the French countryside via rich beef broth, onions and gruyere. Our traveling companion, The Decemberists, provides lyric stories of French prostitutes and their compatriots, the French Legionnaires. Yum.

Soupe a l’Oignon – adapted from my mother, who is not French and who couldn’t remember where she took if from. Probably one of the cookbooks that got lost on the last move. Sorry mama.

6 yellow onions – about 6 cups, sliced into thin half-moons
4 Tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp flour
2 quarts beef broth, preferably homemade, but if store-bought, get the low-sodium
¼ cup dry white vermouth
3 Tbsp sherry

In a large covered pot cook the onions with the butter and olive oil for 15 minutes over low heat. The onions will be softened, but will not have changed color yet. Uncover, turn up the heat to medium and cook for at least 30 minutes, but really, the longer it goes is fine and just deepens the flavor. Stir frequently to ensure that all the onions are carmelizing (to be honest, I don’t know if that’s a word). Meanwhile, bring the beef broth to a boil. When the onions have turned a dark brown color, stir in the flour and cook for about two minutes. Cooking the flour gets rid of that, for no other term, “floury” taste. The flour will thicken the soup. Turn off the heat (or if you’re working with electric, move off the heat) and slowly and carefully pour in the broth. Put back on the heat, turn up to medium and let simmer for at 30-45 minutes. (This is a great place to hold the soup if you’re not ready to serve it for a while. If you’re going to put in the fridge, let the soup come down to room temperature before you put it in the fridge, covered. As always, you got about 3 days in the fridge.)

Right before serving, add in the sherry (or brandy, both are yummy, just depends what you got in your pantry. My brandy tends to go into my Sidecars, so not really a lot left to cook with.)

Now, to get that fancy bread crust with ooey, gooey cheese, you require oven-safe soup ramekins. I don’t have those. And I tend to burn myself when I pull things out of ovens, so soup, which is all swishy and liquidy, and oh, yeah, boiling, is not something I’m willing to go for. Also, I have really cheap dishware that barely makes it through my dishwasher, so I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I put them in the oven. Basically, all of that was my way of saying that I don’t broil the soup with the ooey, gooey cheesy toast top. I just make cheese toast in my toaster oven and put it right on top. Cause I’m a rebel.

Cheese toasts

12 French bread rounds
½ cup Gruyere cheese, grated

Toast the bread rounds until crispy and dry. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the dry bread rounds and broil until cheese bubbles and turns brown, about 2 minutes. Drop two bread rounds on each bowl of soup. Or more, I like more.