Tearfully Delicious

A couple of weeks ago I tried my hand at a French Onion Soup. I looked at a few different recipes from taste.com.au and, in the end, picked and chose from a few to concoct my own recipe.

serves 4

Ingredients
80g Unsalted butter
1 Kg brown onions, halved and sliced.
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbs plain flour
1 L Beef Stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 bouquet garni
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 30cm baguette, sliced
1 tbs dijon mustard
1/2 cup shredded gruyere cheese
sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat butter in a large pot. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until the onion softens. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes until the onion is golden.
2. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually add the beef stock and red wine, stirring until combined.
3. Place the mixture over medium heat. Add the bouquet garni, bay leaf, and thyme and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until soup thickens slightly.
4. While soup is simmering, grill baguette slices until bread is dried, but not browned. Spread one side of each slice with dijon mustard and sprinkle with cheese. Place under grill and cook until cheese is golden brown.
5. Remove bouquet garni and bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls and top with the baguette slices and a sprig of fresh thyme to garnish.

All in all the soup was a winner, though the cheesy croutons are a definite must as they contrast the flavour of the soup perfectly and turn a ho-hum meal into something wonderful. As an aside, the Gruyere was quite pricey ($50/kg) and from a flavour perspective I think you could probably get a similar result with a decent parmesan mixed with a little shredded mozzarella for the elasticity.