Food, glorious food... done my way. Pretence of perfection

Saturday, February 17, 2007

French Onion Soup


I stole this idea from a colleague at work. He was putting on a dinner party and asked me if I had a particular recipe I used. I didn't. So I looked around and found a few to see what the general deal was... I (we) ended up buying some beef bones from a butcher in Manchester one lunchtime, the plan was to put them to good use by making beef stock. I don't make by own stocks generally, not beef anyway.

I dumped the bones into a large saucepan and emptied in some water and salt. Boiled them for about 3-4 hours, skimming the top every 15-20 mins. I left it in the fridge over night so I could get the rest in the morning (it solidifies on top...).

For the soup I used 2 large white onions, half moon type cut and fried in a little butter and oil for around 20 mins. Til they got all nice and brown. Towards the end I put a little golden caster sugar in, just to add that little more caramel flavour. Plus a finely sliced clove of garlic.

A glass of white wine was used to deglaze the pan, and left to boil off until half the amount was left. Then in when a little smoked paprika, beef and chicken (bottled bouillon) stock. 30 mins simmer later it was ready.

To top it off I used some grilled ciabatta gran padano cheese on toast :-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Were we separated at birth? I too spend my lunch hour shopping for food with colleagues. If you send me some soup I promise not to report you to your colleague.

Cat said...

oh smelly onions how i love thee in soup topped with lots of cheesy crunchies

yummy Naz!!!

Mona said...

That is amazing. Wow. And I've been looking for a French onion soup recipe for years...I'll have to try this simple version. Happy Saturday!
M

Anonymous said...

mmmmmmmm work colleague. More like culinary muse

Nazca said...

Is that you Stuie?

Anonymous said...

It seems that French onion soup is very popular at the moment. Yours is the easiest recipe, though. Either that, or you just make things seems easy to do.

All my life, i've never, ever had onion soup. Sad, i know. But i am so intrigued by it now that i read it on a few blogs. Maybe, i'll have a go with making it. We'll see. :)

Mae